Stepanakert pogrom

Stepanakert pogrom
Part of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Anti-Azerbaijani demonstrations in Stepanakert, February 13, 1988
Location
Coordinates	39°48′55″N 46°45′7″E ⧼validator-fatal-error⧽
Date
Target	Local Azerbaijani population
Attack type	Murder, looting, raiding, arson
Deaths	2
Non-fatal injuries	Unknown
Perpetrators	Local Armenian population Nationalist emissaries from Armenia
Motive	Anti-Azerbaijanism, Armenian nationalism

Stepanakert pogrom (Armenian: Ստեփանակերտի ջարդեր, romanized: Step’anakerti jarder), Khankendi pogrom (Azerbaijani: Xankəndi talanları or Xankəndi poqromu), or Khankendi massacres (Azerbaijani: Xankəndi qırğınları), was mass looting and pogrom directed against the ethnic Azerbaijani population of Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in the Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union, from September 18 to 20, 1988.

Stepanakert, located in the Karabakh Plateau, was the chief city of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), with an Armenian majority, and an Azerbaijani minority. The pogrom of Azerbaijanis in Stepanakert consisted mostly of attacking, looting and, arson of the houses inhabited by the Azerbaijanis. These attacks, organized by the Armenian nationalist emissaries from the Armenian SSR, were perpetrated by the local Armenian groups. On September 18, 59–63 houses were burned, while more than 270 houses were looted and two people were killed at the end of the events. Armenians also attacked Karkijahan, but they were repelled by the locals. The next day, Soviet troops entered Stepanakert to oversee the relocation of Azerbaijanis there to Shusha, per Moscow's decision. Subsequently, the Soviet Army stationed in the city implemented a curfew on September 21, and the authority preserved the situation.

The pogrom was one of the acts of ethnic violence in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, carried out along the demands of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia.

Background

Stepanakert, or Khankendi, is a city located on Karabakh Plateau at the center of the Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous and landlocked region situated in the South Caucasus. Although the Armenian sources state that the settlement was first mentioned as Vararakn (Armenian: Վարարակն, meaning "rapid spring"), named after the river flowing through it, the Azerbaijani references generally say that the settlement was founded in the late eighteenth century as a private residence for khans of the Karabakh Khanate, and was thus called Khankendi (Azerbaijani: Xankəndi, literally "the khan's village").

After the establishment of the Soviet authority, Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert (Armenian: Ստեփանակերտ, literally "the city of Stepan") by the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijani SSR, dated August 10, 1923, to honour Stepan Shaumian, leader of the 26 Baku Commissars. After that, Stepanakert was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) and gradually became a chief city for the Armenians in the region. According to the 1979 Soviet census, the city had a population of 38,980 people, mostly of Armenians, who constituted 87% of the total population, and more than four thousand Azerbaijanis.

Anti-Azerbaijani sentiment and rallies

Map of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Stepanakert in the center.

In 1987, Armenians began to collect signatures, demanding the secession of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan and its incorporation to Armenia, while the Azerbaijanis repeatedly appealed to the prosecutor´s office, the Committee for State Security, the Supreme Soviet, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to prevent these demands. In Stepanakert, organized by Armenian nationalist emissaries from the Armenian SSR, ethnic Armenians began unsanctioned rallies demanding the secession of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan and its transfer to Armenia. The first rally was carried out on February 13, 1988, in the city's central Lenin Square (now Renaissance Square). One week later, on February 20, another rally was held in the central square of the town. Following that, Armenian deputies of the Council of People's Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, during an extraordinary session, adopted an appeal to the Presidiums of the Supreme Soviets of Azerbaijan, Armenia and, the USSR with the request of NKAO's transfer from Azerbaijan to Armenia. This development caused a vast objection among the Azerbaijanis living in the region. Following that, the Soviet leadership sent a battalion of Internal Troops to Stepanakert to stabilize the situation. From those months, the Armenians began to flame ethnic violence against the Azerbaijanis.

Armenians in Stepanakert tried to poison a water pipeline going to Shusha. On February 20, two Azerbaijani female students undergoing an internship at Stepanakert Central Hospital were sexually abused and raped by a gang of Armenians. This caused great outrage, as two days later, hundreds of young Azerbaijanis from Agdam marched on Stepanakert, although they were interrupted by Russian soldiers and armed Armenians in Askeran. The following clashes resulted in two Azerbaijanis getting killed and many others injured.

On March 1, Armenian refugees from Sumqayit arrived in Stepanakert, following a pogrom. On May 14, Azerbaijanis held a rally in Shusha, attended by 5 thousand people. The rally demanded an end to the attacks by the Armenian rioters. On May 16, Armenians beat a group of Azerbaijanis in Stepanakert, put them in a car, and sent them to Shusha. The same day, Azerbaijanis in Baku held a rally, demanding an end to the separatist actions of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the activities of emissaries from Armenia. Armenians then attacked the Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute, interfering with the conduct of classes at the Azerbaijani department, beat teachers, and the Azerbaijani students, who were forced to leave the city. Following these events, on June 15, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR signed a decree to annex Nagorno-Karabakh. On June 24, Soviet leadership sent Arkady Volsky to Nagorno-Karabakh as Moscow's special envoy.

Pogrom

The pogrom of Azerbaijanis in Stepanakert began on September 18, 1988. Armenian armed groups started to attack the houses of Azerbaijanis living in the city. Azerbaijanis' home phones were also cut off as the raids were planned in advance, with the help of Armenian nationalist emissaries from the Armenian SSR. Separate armed groups led by Major Shahbazyan, Chief of the Public Security Department of the Stepanakert City Department of Internal Affairs, took control of the houses inhabited by Azerbaijanis. The initial task given to these groups was to burn these houses.

Apart from that, Armenian groups faced resistance on Sabir and Lesnoy streets, in the neighbourhood called Karpichkhana, which were mostly inhabited by Azerbaijanis. Another large Armenian armed group attacked Karkijahan but they were repelled by the locals. Also, Azerbaijanis repulsed an Armenian attack on Khojaly that day.

On September 18, 1988, Armenians burned a total of 59–63 houses in the city. At the end of the events on September 20, Armenians looted more than 270 houses, beating their tenants, and tossing them to the streets.

Aftermath

After this incident, the Soviet leadership, worried about the situation getting aggravated, sent troops to Stepanakert. From September 19 to 21, the Soviet servicemen oversaw the relocation of Azerbaijanis to Shusha. In the meanwhile, remaining Azerbaijanis left the city for Shusha, Agdam, Khojaly and other neighboring districts as refugees. Gradually, the city got deprived of its Azerbaijani population. On September 21, the Soviet troops stationed in the city imposed a curfew to preserve the situation.

References

Sources

• "Истоки конфликта". Strana I Mir (in русский). München (№ 6). December 1, 1988. ISSN 0178-5036.
• Chorbajian, Levon; Donabédian, Patrick; Mutafian, Claude (1994). The Caucasian knot: the history & geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1856492874. Search this book on
• "Степанакерт". Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia (in русский). 11. Yerevan: Armenian Soviet Academy of Sciences. 1985.
• Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-33228-4. Search this book on
• "Dağlıq Qarabağ münaqişəsi: Tammətnli elektron materiallar məcmuəsi" [Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: A collection of full-text electronic materials] (PDF) (in azərbaycanca). Azerbaijani Presidential Library. 2005. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
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• Нагорный Карабах: разум победит [Nagorno-Karabakh: Reason Will Win] (in русский). Baku: Azernashr. 1989. ISBN 5-552-00686-0. Search this book on
• Kulieva, J., ed. (1985). "Ханкәнди". Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia (in azərbaycanca). 10. Baku: Azerbaijani Soviet Academy of Sciences. p. 49.
• Kaufman, Stuart (2001). Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. New York: Cornell Studies in Security Affairs. ISBN 0-8014-8736-6. Search this book on
• Gaffarov, Tahir, ed. (2008). "Azərbaycan tarixi". Respublikanın ictimai-siyasi həyatı (80-ci illərin II yarısı) [Socio-political life of the republic (second half of 80s)] (PDF) (in azərbaycanca). 7. Baku: Elm. ISBN 978-9952-448-48-1. Search this book on
• Gasimova, Flora (September 20, 2011). "18 sentyabr: Xankəndlilərin yaddaşından silinməyən gün" [September 18: An indelible day in the memory of the people of Khankendi]. 525-ji gazet (in azərbaycanca). Archived from the original on September 17, 2020.
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• Трагедия длиною в 2 года: фотохроника событий [A tragedy lasting 2 years: Photo chronicle of events] (in русский). Baku: Azernashr. 1990. ISBN 5-552-00717-4. Search this book on

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