Gugark massacre
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The Gugark pogrom was a
pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
directed against the Azerbaijani minority of the Gugark District (now a part of the Lori Province) in the Armenian SSR, then part of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. The pogrom of Azerbaijanis in Gugark in March 1988 followed the earlier pogrom of Armenians in
Sumgait Sumgait (; az, Sumqayıt, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city has a population of around 345,300, making it the second largest city in Azerbaijan after Ba ...
in the end of February 1988. The persecution of the Azerbaijanis continued until virtually all of them fled the region. The pogrom was one of the acts of ethnic violence in the context of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaij ...
, which would later erupt into
a war ''A War'' () is a 2015 Danish war drama film written and directed by Tobias Lindholm, and starring Pilou Asbæk and Søren Malling. It tells the story of a Danish military company in Afghanistan that is fighting the Taliban while trying to pro ...
. Azerbaijani sources label the pogrom as a "massacre" ( az, Quqark qırğını/qətliamı).


Background

Gugark District, called Boyuk Garakilsa ( az, Böyük Qarakilsə, lit=Big Black Church, translit=) by its Azerbaijani inhabitants, was one of the districts of the Armenian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union.Центральный Исполнительный Комитет Союза ССР, Всероссийский центральный исполнительный комитет. Административно-территориальное деление союза ССР (Районы и города СССР). Издательство "Власть Советов" при Президиуме ВЦИК Москва, 1931, страницы 234-237 There were ethnic Azerbaijanis living compactly in this area. Following the
dissolution of Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, the district became part of the independent
Republic of Armenia A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, replaced with the Lori Province. Following
Kirovabad pogrom The Kirovabad pogrom or the pogrom of Kirovabad was an Azeri-led ethnic cleansing that targeted Armenians living in the city of Kirovabad (today called Ganja) in Soviet Azerbaijan during November 1988. Pogrom An unidentified Armenian press ed ...
, the Armenian refugees from
Ganja Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: aːɲd ...
poured into Gugark district via
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
. The tensions between the ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Armenia were high, as both were afraid of an attack from the other side.


Pogrom

The ethnic confrontation between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis started in March 1988. The Armenians attacked the Azerbaijani houses, while the local authorities recorded beatings and robberies of Azerbaijanis by the Armenians, including at their workplaces. Armenians beat Azerbaijani traders in the marketplace, and stole their produce. Violence and discrimination against the Azerbaijanis flared up throughout the Armenian SSR in November 1988. Azerbaijanis were fired from different organizations and factories in the region. The bulk of those killed in the violence were in the northern territories of the country, including the Gugark District. The local Armenians attacked and in some cases killed local Azerbaijanis. The
Karabakh Committee Karabakh Committee ( hy, Ղարաբաղ կոմիտե) was a group of Armenian intellectuals recognized by many Armenians as the ''de facto'' leaders in the late 1980s. The Committee was formed in 1988, with the stated objective of reunification of ...
, to reduce the possibility of provocations, guarded the city at night, but could not fully protection. The authorities tried to protect the local Azerbaijanis, putting soldiers and police officers on the roads leading to Azerbaijani-inhabited villages. When the local Azerbaijanis were eventually escorted out of the region by the authorities, it is reported that the Armenians attacked the convoys of fleeing Azerbaijanis. The officially reported number of Azerbaijanis killed in Gugark village was eleven. According Armenian journalist Mane Papyan, seven Azerbaijanis were killed in
Vanadzor Vanadzor ( hy, Վանաձոր) is an urban municipal community and the third-largest city in Armenia, serving as the capital of Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located about north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 cen ...
, while the rest were persecuted and exiled. According to Azerbaijani historian and publicist Arif Yunus, 21 Azerbaijanis were killed in Gugark. Yunus' list was re-released by the embassy of Azerbaijan in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
in 2008. Former chairman of a collective farm in the region, Stepan Ayvazyan stated that the culprits had burnt the bodies of the dead in
Shahumyan Shahumyan Province ( hy, Շահումյան, Shahumyan, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') is a claimed province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was K ...
to prevent their identification.


Government reaction

The Armenian radio reported that the Communist Party leader and head of the parliament in the Gugark area had shown "political short-sightedness", and that the Soviet government had relieved them of their duties. Following this, a group of around 100 experts arrived from Moscow to investigate the killings. The USSR Prosecutor General's Office began criminal proceedings into the killings, but the perpetrators were never found, and the criminal case was never solved. The first Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan,
Ismat Gayibov Ismat Ismayil oglu Gayibov ( az, Ismət Qayıbov Ismail oğlu) (born in 1942 in Ganja, Azerbaijan) was the Public Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan. He was killed in a helicopter which was shot down by Armenian forces near the Karakend vill ...
, criticized Soviet authorities for not paying enough attention to the events, since only four people had been arrested for the killings. According to the former prosecutor of
Vanadzor Vanadzor ( hy, Վանաձոր) is an urban municipal community and the third-largest city in Armenia, serving as the capital of Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located about north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 cen ...
, Grigori Shahverdyan, the attackes were organised by small groups of young Armenians. The chairwoman of the Azerbaijani National Committee of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Arzu Abdulayeva, stated that the Azerbaijani public knew nothing about the pogrom of Azerbaijanis in Gugark for a long time beyond rumours because of a cover-up.


Aftermath

In 1989, many Azerbaijanis originally from Gugark returned to sell their apartments or to receive compensation for the loss of their apartments after the
Spitak earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( hy, Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, ), occurred on December 7 at with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurre ...
. Afterwards they all left their homes. Azerbaijani author Arif Yunus claims the word "Gugark" has become a household word for the Azerbaijanis, as "Sumgait" has for the Armenians. The chairwoman of the Azerbaijani National Committee of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Arzu Abdulayeva, stated that the events in Sumgait were very similar to what happened in Gugark.


In literature

The Gugark pogrom was one of the main settings of the controversial novel ''Gugark'' by Azerbaijani writer Seymur Baycan. The novel surrounded the love story of an Azerbaijani man named Seymur and an Armenian woman named Anoush amid pogrom in Baku and Gugark. Baycan avoided harsh criticism in Azerbaijan by only mentioning the expulsion of Armenians but not the harassment or violence against Armenians. The novel was generally well received in Azerbaijan despite its controversial message of peace. In contrast,
Akram Aylisli Akram Najaf oglu Naibov ( az, Əkrəm Nəcəf oğlu Naibov, born December 6, 1937), better known by his pen name Akram Aylisli, is an Azerbaijani writer, playwright, novelist and former member of parliament.Üçüncü çağırış Azərbaycan Res ...
, the author of the similar work ''Stone Dreams'' describing the events of the Baku and Sumgait pogroms, was condemned in Azerbaijan and persecuted by Azerbaijani authorities. Critics such as Mikail Mamedov, comparing ''Gugark'' to ''Stone Dreams,'' criticized ''Gugark'' for not being well written and therefore lacking any powerful message.


See also

*
Deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia Mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia took place several times throughout the 20th century, and have been described as acts of forced resettlement and ethnic cleansing. Prior to the October Revolution, Azerbaijanis had made up 43 percen ...


References

{{coord missing, Azerbaijan Anti-Azerbaijani pogroms Anti-Azerbaijanism in Armenia Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic