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| == Background and clash == | == Background and clash == | ||
| On 20 February 1988 two Azerbaijani trainee student girls in Stepanakert hospital were raped by Armenians. <ref>{{cite book | last =De Waal | first = Thomas | authorlink = Thomas de Waal | title = Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War | publisher = New York University Press | year = 2003 | pages = 195–211 | location = New York | isbn = 0-8147-1945-7}}</ref> On 22 February, two days after the request of ] to transfer the region of ] to ], a crowd of ] surrounded the local Communist Party headquarters, demanding information about rumors of an Azerbaijani having been killed in ]. They were informed that no such incident had occurred, but refused to believe it. Dissatisfied with what they were told, thousands began marching toward ], “wreaking destruction en route.” The authorities mobilized roughly a thousand police to stop the riots; the result was a clash in the Askeran region of Nagorno-Karabakh that left two Azerbaijanis dead, 50 Armenian villagers, and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis and police, injured.<ref>Elizabeth Fuller, “Nagorno-Karabakh: The Death and Casualty Toll to Date,” RL 531/88, Dec. 14, 1988, pp. 1–2.</ref><ref>Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War - Page 63 by Stuart J. Kaufman</ref> | On 20 February 1988 two Azerbaijani trainee student girls in Stepanakert hospital were raped by Armenians. <ref>{{cite book | last =De Waal | first = Thomas | authorlink = Thomas de Waal | title = Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War | publisher = New York University Press | year = 2003 | pages = 195–211 | location = New York | isbn = 0-8147-1945-7}}</ref> On 22 February, two days after this event and the request of ] to transfer the region of ] to ], a crowd of ] surrounded the local Communist Party headquarters, demanding information about rumors of an Azerbaijani having been killed in ]. They were informed that no such incident had occurred, but refused to believe it. Dissatisfied with what they were told, thousands began marching toward ], “wreaking destruction en route.” The authorities mobilized roughly a thousand police to stop the riots; the result was a clash in the Askeran region of Nagorno-Karabakh that left two Azerbaijanis dead, 50 Armenian villagers, and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis and police, injured.<ref>Elizabeth Fuller, “Nagorno-Karabakh: The Death and Casualty Toll to Date,” RL 531/88, Dec. 14, 1988, pp. 1–2.</ref><ref>Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War - Page 63 by Stuart J. Kaufman</ref> | ||
| On ''Azerbaijani Radio'', deputy attorney general Katusev reported the fact that "two inhabitants of the Agdam district fell victim to murder", giving two Muslim surnames.<ref>The New York Times, 11 March 1988, p. A6</ref> These news, according to Tamara Dragadze, were announced to show the gravity of the conflict and to calm down sentiments.<ref>The Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: Structure and Sentiment”, in Third World Quarterly, No. 1 (January) 1989, p. 56; or Dragadze</ref> | On ''Azerbaijani Radio'', deputy attorney general Katusev reported the fact that "two inhabitants of the Agdam district fell victim to murder", giving two Muslim surnames.<ref>The New York Times, 11 March 1988, p. A6</ref> These news, according to Tamara Dragadze, were announced to show the gravity of the conflict and to calm down sentiments.<ref>The Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: Structure and Sentiment”, in Third World Quarterly, No. 1 (January) 1989, p. 56; or Dragadze</ref> | ||
Revision as of 09:55, 29 December 2011
The Askeran clash on 22—23 February 1988 in the town of Askeran was one of the starting points of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which triggered the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Background and clash
On 20 February 1988 two Azerbaijani trainee student girls in Stepanakert hospital were raped by Armenians. On 22 February, two days after this event and the request of Karabakh National Council to transfer the region of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, a crowd of Azerbaijanis surrounded the local Communist Party headquarters, demanding information about rumors of an Azerbaijani having been killed in Stepanakert. They were informed that no such incident had occurred, but refused to believe it. Dissatisfied with what they were told, thousands began marching toward Nagorno-Karabakh, “wreaking destruction en route.” The authorities mobilized roughly a thousand police to stop the riots; the result was a clash in the Askeran region of Nagorno-Karabakh that left two Azerbaijanis dead, 50 Armenian villagers, and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis and police, injured.
On Azerbaijani Radio, deputy attorney general Katusev reported the fact that "two inhabitants of the Agdam district fell victim to murder", giving two Muslim surnames. These news, according to Tamara Dragadze, were announced to show the gravity of the conflict and to calm down sentiments.
The news of these clashes along with ongoing deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia sparked Sumgait pogrom against Armenian residents of the city of Sumgait in Azerbaijan on 27 February. The violence was led, to some degree, by refugees from Armenia, perhaps as many as 2000 of them made even more desperate by being forced to take shelter in the appalling conditions of Sumgait's shantytown.
References
- De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. pp. 195–211. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7.
- Elizabeth Fuller, “Nagorno-Karabakh: The Death and Casualty Toll to Date,” RL 531/88, Dec. 14, 1988, pp. 1–2.
- Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War - Page 63 by Stuart J. Kaufman
- The New York Times, 11 March 1988, p. A6
- The Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: Structure and Sentiment”, in Third World Quarterly, No. 1 (January) 1989, p. 56; or Dragadze
- Ethnic Fears and Ethnic War In Karabagh - Stuart J. Kaufman - Page 23
- Tamara Dragadze, “Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis,” in Graham Smith, ed., The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (London: Longman, 1990), p. 175.
- Moskovskie novosti, 17 April 1988, tr. in CDSP vol. 40, no. 17, pp. 12–13.
