Key event

Sumgait pogrom

27 – 29 Feb 1988 Sumgait

What happened

Anti-Armenian pogroms in the Azerbaijani industrial city of Sumgait kill at least 26 Armenians by the official count — with higher estimates — days after the NKAO vote. Soviet troops restore order late; most of the city's Armenian population flees.

Sumgait set the conflict's violent pattern and its psychology: for Armenians it fused the Karabakh question with survival, and it began the mutual population flight that unmixed both republics before full war started.

Confidence: High

When27 – 29 Feb 1988
WhereSumgait
KindHumanitarian
ArenaArmenia–Azerbaijan / Karabakh legacy

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Where this fits

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