On Sumgait pogroms anniversary Armenian Foreign Ministry calls for overcoming enmity to prevent repetition of such tragedies

YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA/. The Armenian Foreign Ministry in a statement on the 37th anniversary of the pogroms of Armenians in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait called for overcoming enmity to prevent repetition of such tragedies.

“In 1988, these days, February 27-29, a number of crimes were committed in the Azerbaijani Sumgait, which marked the beginning of large-scale pogroms of the Armenian population in this country, clearly organized by the state and with its assistance, turning decades of oppression and persecution into open and organized violence,” the statement reads.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry recalled that the mass killings and torture of the Armenian population that started in Sumgait continued with the same brutality and regularity in Baku, Kirovabad and Maragha.

“As a result of these events, hundreds of Armenians were killed and about half a million Armenians were forcibly displaced. Cycles of violent policies continued until September 2023, when the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh was subjected to final ethnic cleansing,” the statement emphasized.

“As we recall these events, we honor the memory of the innocent victims every year. At the same time, we believe that these are not just days of mourning, but a reminder of the need to overcome enmity in order to prevent the repetition of such tragedies in the future,” the statement said.-0-