Gugark pogrom

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Gugark pogrom
Part of First Nagorno-Karabakh War
LocationGugark District, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
DateMarch – December 1988 (9 months)
TargetLocal Azerbaijani population
Attack type
Murder, arson, pogrom
Deaths11 (per official Soviet data)
21 (per Arif Yunus)
PerpetratorsLocal Armenians and Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
MotiveAnti-Azerbaijani sentiment

The Gugark pogrom[1] (Azerbaijani: Quqark poqromu), also called the Gugark massacre (Azerbaijani: Quqark qırğını/qətliamı) in Azerbaijan,[2][3][4] was a pogrom directed against the ethnic Azerbaijani inhabitants of the Gugark District (now a part of the Lori Province) in the Armenian SSR, which was then part of the Soviet Union.[5][6][7][8]

The pogrom of Azerbaijanis in Gugark, which started in March 1988, was a follow-up to the earlier anti-Armenian Sumgait pogrom.[7] The persecution of the Azerbaijanis continued until virtually all of them had fled the region.[6] The pogrom is one of the acts of ethnic violence in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which would later erupt into a war.

Background[]

Location of Gugark District within the Armenian SSR.

Gugark District, known as the Boyuk Garakilsa (Azerbaijani: Böyük Qarakilsə, lit. 'Big Black Church') by its ethnic Azerbaijani inhabitants,[9] was one of the districts of the Armenian SSR, which was then part of the Soviet Union.[10] The area housed ethnic Azerbaijanis that lived compactly. Following the dissolution of Soviet Union, the district became part of the independent Republic of Armenia, and was disestablished and replaced with the Lori Province.[11]

Following a pogrom, the Armenian refugees from Ganja poured into the district via Georgia.[12] The tensions between the ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Armenia were high, as both were afraid of an attack from the other side.[13]

Pogrom[]

The ethnic confrontation between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis started in March 1988. The Armenians had attacked the Azerbaijani-inhabited houses,[14][15] while the local authorities had recorded beating and robbery cases by the Armenians against the Azerbaijanis, including at the workplaces. The Armenians were also beating the Azerbaijani marketplace traders, and stealing their produce.[13]

Violence and discrimination against the ethnic Azerbaijanis flared up throughout the Armenian SSR in November 1988.[16] Azerbaijanis were fired from different organizations and factories in the region.[13] The bulk of those killed in the violence were in the northern territories of the country, including the Gugark District.[17] The local Armenians attacked and in cases killed the local Azerbaijanis. The Karabakh Committee, to reduce the possibility of provocations, guarded the city at nights, but could not ensure its full protection. The authorities tried to protect the local Azerbaijanis, protecting the roads leading to Azerbaijani-inhabited villages with soldiers and police officers; However, the local Azerbaijani were gradually expelled from the region, with the authorities escorting them. Nevertheless, the Armenians were also attacking the convoys of fleeing Azerbaijanis.[13][18]

The number of Azerbaijanis killed in Gugark village according to official sources at the time was eleven.[13] There were 7 cases of murder recorded in Vanadzor.[19]

According to the Azerbaijani historian and publicist Arif Yunus, 21 Azerbaijanis were killed in Gugark.[20] Yunus' list was re-released by the embassy of Azerbaijan in the United Kingdom in 2008.[21] The Armenian journalist Mane Papyan had stated that seven Azerbaijanis were killed in Vanadzor, while the rest were persecuted and exiled.

Former chairman of a collective farm in the region, Stepan Ayvazyan had stated that the culprit groups had burned the bodies of the dead in Shahumyan so that they could not be identified.[19]

Government reaction[]

After the pogrom of Azerbaijanis in Gugark, 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.[22] Following this, a group of around 100 experts arrived from Moscow to the region to investigate the killings.[19] The Prosecutor General's Office of the USSR instituted criminal proceedings into the killings, but the criminals were never found, and the criminal case was not solved.[19] The first Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, Ismat Gayibov, criticized the Soviet authorities for not drawing enough attention to the events, where only four people were arrested for the killings. According to the former prosecutor of Vanadzor, Grigori Shahverdyan, the crimes were organised by small groups of young Armenians.[19] 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.[23]

Aftermath[]

In 1989, many Azerbaijanis originally from Gugark returned to sell their apartments or to receive compensation for the loss of apartments after the Spitak earthquake. However, when all the deals were completed, they all left their homes.[19]

According to Arif Yunus, for the Azerbaijanis, the word Gugark had become a household name, having the same value as "Sumgait" for the Armenians.[20] Arzu Abdulayeva had stated that the events in Sumgait were very similar to what happened in Gugark.[23]

In literature[]

The Gugark pogrom was one of the main settings of the controversial novel Gugark by Azerbaijani writer Seymur Baycan.[24] The novel surrounded the love story of an Azerbaijani man named Seymur and an Armenian woman named Anoush during the time frame of the Baku pogrom and the Gugark pogrom. Seymur avoided harsh criticism in Azerbaijan by only mentioning the expulsion of Armenians while avoiding mention of violence or harassment against Armenians. The novel was generally well received in Azerbaijan despite its controversial message of peace. In contrast, author Akram Aylisli underwent condemnation in Azerbaijan and persecution by Azerbaijani authorities for his similar work Stone Dreams which describes the events of the Baku and Sumgait pogroms. Critics such as Mikail Mamedov, comparing it to similar works such as Stone Dreams, have criticized the Gugark for not being well written and therefore lacking any powerful message.[25]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Grigoryan, Arpi; Karimov, Elchin; Alıcı, Nisan (15 May 2019). "Working Through the Past in the Shadow of the Present: The Cases of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey". Caucasus Edition: Journal of Conflict Transformation. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Witness of the Gugark massacre: They burned the village at night, INTERVIEW (VIDEO)". AzVision. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Ermənilərdən şok etiraf: 1988-də azərbaycanlıların qətliamı - Video". Aqreqator.az (in Azerbaijani). 4 November 2018. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. ^ ""Quqark qətliamını törədən cinayətkarların əsas məqsədi etnik təmizləmə idi"- Millət vəkili". Aqreqator.az (in Azerbaijani). 27 November 2019. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  5. ^ Helvécio de Jesus Júnior, João Ricardo Guilherme Zimmer Xavier (2018). "The geopolitics of the Caucasus: An analysis of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict". Revista da Escola Superior de Guerra. 33 (69). ISSN 0102-1788. Archived from the original on 2020-03-20. Retrieved 2021-05-09. On the other hand, attacks against Azerbaijanis also increased in great proportions, with several pogroms in the cities of Gugark and Gosh, including dozens of deaths and intensifying the nationalism of the two countries
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Coyle J.J. (2018). Nagorno-Karabakh. In: Russia's Border Wars and Frozen Conflicts. Springer Publishing. pp. 207–256. ISBN 978-3-319-52204-3. Armenian towns of Spitak, Gugark, and others. Two hundred sixteen were killed in Armenia, including 57 women, 5 infants, and 18 children. The last Azerbaijanis were forced out of Armenia by the end of November 1988.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Mgr. Jozef Hyrja (April 20, 2016). "Tears in the Black Garden - Nagorno-Karabakh". historyweb.dennikn.sk (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2021. On February 27 and 28, 1988, he followed the pogrom in the aforementioned city of Sumgait. A large crowd of Azerbaijanis began attacking Armenian shops and houses, looting and killing Armenian fellow citizens... The result was the exodus of the Armenian population from the city. Similar attacks followed in Armenia against the Azerbaijani minority in the cities of Spitak and Gugark.
  8. ^ Coyle, James J. (2021). Roots of the Conflict. In: Russia's Interventions in Ethnic Conflicts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (Springer Publishing). pp. 1–32. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-59573-9_1. ISBN 978-3-030-59573-9. Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-09. Attacks against Azerbaijanis took place in the Armenian towns of Spitak, Gugark, and others
  9. ^ Guliyev, C. B., ed. (1981). "Kirovakan". Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia (in Azerbaijani). V. Baku.
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ "Закон Республики Армения №С-062-1-ЗР-18 "Об административно-территориальном делении Республики Армения"" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 28 January 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes, ethnic cleansings and pogroms; November 22-23, 1988". ANI Armenian Research Center. 23 November 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Papyan, Mane (22 April 2015). "Gugark after Sumgait". Caucasus Edition: Journal of Conflict Transformation. Archived from the original on 5 November 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  14. ^ Khlystun, Victor (2 January 2001). "10 БАЛЛОВ ПО ШКАЛЕ ПОЛИТБЮРО СОТРУДНИКИ КГБ СССР РАССКАЗЫВАЮТ О НЕСТИХИЙНОЙ КАТАСТРОФЕ, ПРИВЕДШЕЙ К КРОВАВОМУ КОНФЛИКТУ МЕЖДУ АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНЦАМИ И АРМЯНАМИ". Trud-7 (in Russian). Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2020 – via Agentura.ru.
  15. ^ Khlystun, Victor (2 January 2001). "10 БАЛЛОВ ПО ШКАЛЕ ПОЛИТБЮРО". Trud-7 (in Russian). Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  16. ^ Abzavaty, Yazep (15 January 2007). "The Unrecognized IV. The Bitter Fruit of the 'Black Garden'". Nashe Mnenie. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Погромы в Армении: суждения, домыслы и факты". Ekspress-Khronika (in Russian) (16). 16 April 1991.
  18. ^ Marc Elie (2013). "At the center of a double misfortune: The earthquake of December 7, 1988 in Armenia and the expulsion of the Azeri disaster victims from Spitak" (in French) (44). Revue d'études comparative Est-Ouest: 45–75. doi:10.4074/S0338059913001034. Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2021. Between Kirovakan and Diližan, near Gugark, "Armenian extremists" attack the convoy. The villagers quote the names of three deportees who are said to have died and evoke gunshot wounds. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Papyan, Mane (29 April 2015). "События в Гугарке. Как громили азербайджанцев в Армении". epress.am (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Yunusov, Arif (26 February 1991). "Погромы в Армении в 1988-1989". Ekspress-Khronika (in Russian) (16). Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Report on mass human rights violation. Official reports of the Azerbaijani MFA on the Karabakh conflict". Embassy of Azerbaijan in London. Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012.
  22. ^ Barringer, Felicity (7 December 1988). "3 More Killed in Soviet Ethnic Protest". New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2020. The resolution said that party and Government leaders would lose their posts for such actions, and late Monday the Armenian radio reported that the Communist Party leader and head of the parliament in the Gugark area had shown political short-sightedness. The two men had been relieved of their duties after ethnic fights there resulted in tragic consequences. Party and Government workers in the Yekhegnadzor district of Armenia were also criticized in the report carried by the Moscow radio tonight.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b "Azerbaijan: Armenians and Azerbaijanis Remember Suffering". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  24. ^ Zaur Gasimov (December 20, 2017). Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 64. ISBN 9781538110423. ...novel Gugark on the pogroms on the Azerbaijani population in the Armenian town of Gugark.
  25. ^ Mikail Mamedov (2014). "The Stone Dreams scandal: the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in contemporary literature". Caucasus Survey. 2 (1–2): 50. doi:10.1080/23761199.2014.11417300.

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