Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Statement on the 38th Anniversary of the Sumgait Pogroms

YEREVAN — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia has issued a statement marking the 38th anniversary of the Sumgait pogroms.

“In these days of remembrance for the victims of the massacres organized in 1988 by the authorities of the Azerbaijan SSR in Sumgait, we pay tribute to the memory of the hundreds of Armenians who were killed. Nearly half a million people were forcibly displaced.

“Remembrance is not only about reflecting on the past. It reaffirms our shared responsibility to protect human rights, to reject hatred and hate speech in all their manifestations, and at the same time to work steadfastly toward reconciliation and lasting peace,” the statement reads.

On February 27–29, 1988, a mass crime was carried out against the Armenian population of Sumgait. The failure to provide a proper legal assessment of these events fostered a sense of impunity among the Azerbaijani authorities. Months later, during rallies held in Baku, portraits of the Sumgait perpetrators appeared, accompanied by slogans such as “Long live the heroes of Sumgait.”

This impunity led to escalating violence against the Armenian population throughout the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR. Between 1988 and 1991, successive waves of anti-Armenian pogroms resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Armenians, the forced expulsion of tens of thousands, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands who became refugees.