Events in Sumgayit: it was necessary for everyone except Azerbaijan

In February 2020, the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta published sensational material about the events in Sumgayit that took place in 1988. 

The article, which contains the documented truth about the real organizers and perpetrators of the bloody action, blew up the information space and set in motion all the circles interested in continuing to conceal the realities. NG couldn't resist and deleted the material, while dismissing two deputy editors-in-chief. The Diaspora, one might say, won then, shaking up the lobby and even government structures with mass hysteria. The latter were also scared. And it was from what. Because the riots in Sumgayit were a well-planned action organized and carried out by Armenian nationalists in cooperation with the KGB and the central authorities in Moscow. Foreign circles also had a role in the dirty scenario. This is evidenced by the fact that on the eve of the events, not only central television operators with appropriate equipment arrived in Sumgayit, but also correspondents of French publications.  

Everything was ready and everyone was ready. Everyone except Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis needed the riots in Sumgayit. The Diaspora needed him to put pressure on the territorial issue - the world had to make sure that Armenians simply could not live next to such "beasts". Moscow needed him to increase pressure on Baku in order to fulfill Gorbachev's promises to the Armenians.  

The Armenian nationalists needed Sumgayit to justify all the atrocities they were preparing against the Azerbaijanis of Armenia. However, the atrocities were already underway at that time and the Azerbaijanis were already being driven out of Armenia. Ethnic cleansing began back in November 1987, and in January, a freight train arrived at the Baku railway station, bringing scantily clad frostbitten people from Armenia, as well as dozens of disfigured corpses of our compatriots. The world, of course, did not find out about this, and those who knew remained silent.

The Azerbaijanis did not want to voluntarily leave the lands of their ancestors, so a precedent was needed to justify mass violence against the indigenous population of present-day Armenia. A number of cities were considered as a venue for playing out the bloody scenario, and in the end, Sumgayit was chosen.

There can be no doubt that the events were clearly organized and planned. Armenians who were forced to leave Azerbaijan during the conflict told later that the Sumgayit provocation was blessed by the then Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen. When asked, "What about the fact that some Armenians will die in this process?", he replied, "Well, let them be a sacrifice for the great Armenian people."

As I told you earlier in an interview with Day.Rizvan Huseynov, director of the Center for the History of the Caucasus, said that in February 1988, an old favorite technique of Armenian nationalists was used in Sumgait - to provoke Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes and bloodshed, in order to have the "moral right" to start an open war against Azerbaijan.

"There is a lot of evidence that this was an organized provocation. I remember well that back in mid-February, our friend, who worked for republican television, told us that he was leaving for Sumgayit soon with his equipment, and that some cameramen and cameramen had been ordered from above, that is, from Moscow, to go to Sumgayit and set up cameras in certain places - on roofs and intersections. He said that something very important was planned. He probably didn't even know what it was. But even then it was clear that something very serious was expected. Although, of course, no one expected what happened. It is interesting that after these events, our familiar cameraman, either horrified by what he saw, or under pressure from the special services, which undoubtedly could not help but deal with him, left Azerbaijan and went to Israel," said Rizvan Huseynov.

Reports of what happened in Sumgayit instantly spread around the world. Photos and video footage were distributed, and a couple of days later there was already a monument in Yerevan.

Amid the uproar, mass ethnic cleansing unfolded in Armenia. Armenians vandalized Azerbaijani cemeteries, forcibly expelled Azerbaijanis from their homes, and carried out massacres involving law enforcement agencies and local party authorities. The task was set not to leave a single Azerbaijani in Armenia by the beginning of the military aggression against Azerbaijan. It is not so easy to expel more than 200,000 people, but this was not the first deportation of Azerbaijanis, and the Armenians had already accumulated sufficient experience to carry out such a task. The monstrous plan was carried out ahead of schedule, and by 1990 there were no indigenous people left in the Armenian SSR.

In March 1989, at the unveiling of the monument to Nzhdeh in Gafan, the first secretary of the local district party committee Mkrtchyan joyfully announced: "You have worked hard, but you have not been able to purge the republic of Azerbaijanis. Your grandchildren have fulfilled your big dream."

The lives of 32 Sumgayit people, 9 of whom were Azerbaijanis, were sacrificed on the altar of the "age-old Armenian dream."

The organizers' calculation turned out to be accurate. The Sumgayit provocation really helped the Armenians a lot, becoming in the eyes of the "civilized" world an excuse for all their subsequent actions. The revenge action organized in February 1988 by Etchmiadzin, the KGB of the USSR and the Diaspora against fellow tribesmen who did not contribute to extremist Armenian funds served as an excuse for the outrageous atrocities of Armenians in Khojaly, Garadaghli and other cities and villages of Azerbaijan. Whenever the Azerbaijani side talked about the million refugees and internally displaced persons, about the thousands of civilians killed and tortured, our neighbors jumped up from their seats shouting "And Sumgayit?". And the "civilized" world wiped away their tears, remaining indifferent to the grief and losses of the Azerbaijani people.

A few years ago, an interview with Vladmir Kalinichenko, a former senior investigator for particularly important cases under the Prosecutor General of the USSR, who was charged with conducting the investigation into the Sumgayit events, took place in the media. Quoting the investigator, the media wrote:

"As for Sumgayit, I personally participated in the investigation of those events. During interrogations of a number of witnesses and rioters, he tried to identify the signs of those who led the riots. I had already begun to follow the trail, and detailed descriptions of the organizers and leaders of the mass riots began to appear, when suddenly I received instructions to transfer the materials of my investigation to the investigators of the KGB of the USSR. I gave them all the materials. But none of the organizers of the riots in Sumgayit was brought to justice. Some time later, my comrades and friends reported that Bobkov, deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR, had categorically instructed them not to engage in organizing riots. This suggests a logical conclusion - the KGB forces were involved in the events in Sumgayit, since this structure did not identify the instigators."

And this, to be honest, is not surprising at all. By grabbing the hand of the main character of the events, Eduard Grigoryan, the investigation would have to name other names and authorities involved in the crime. Grigoryan would have been followed by a train of names. These were not names that could be named and whose bearers could be condemned. Armenian loudmouths deliberately ignore Grigoryan's figure, because his Armenian surname completely breaks the thesis about the "continuation of the genocide of 1915." Although, if you open the archives, there is no doubt that the same Grigoryans will also be the organizers and performers of events in the Ottoman Empire.

It was the Armenian Grigoryan who led the gang of rioters (which included several other Armenians, including Grigoryan's two brothers). He led the crowd to addresses belonging to Armenians who refused to pay contributions to separatist funds. He personally killed and raped his fellow tribesmen. During the investigation, many victims pointed to him. The cases of the participants in the events were not considered in Azerbaijan, which was expected, given who was behind this action. They were considered in Armenia and Russia. Eduard Grigoryan, despite the fact that his guilt was fully proven, was sentenced not to capital punishment, but to only 12 years. But he did not serve them either. For some reason, Grigoryan was sent to Armenia to serve his sentence, where he was later successfully released, after which he left for Russia, where he still lives. Anyway, according to the information for 2022, the bastard was alive and well. After his miraculous release, he lived in the city of Sergiev Posad in the Moscow region, and a few years ago he appeared in the Kochubeyevsky district of the Stavropol Territory of the Russian Federation.

Those who do not believe the Azerbaijani side can find out what really happened in Sumgayit by going to Russia. I don't think you'll have to ask passersby - the criminal's residential address is probably well known in local law enforcement agencies. Grigoryan is on a "well-deserved" pension and is not afraid of anyone. Although he is wanted by Azerbaijan, he is not in danger of being extradited to Baku. He knows too much, and the KGB heirs don't give up their own. He is not afraid of the revenge of his tribesmen either, because he carried out their task in Sumgayit. No one will take revenge on him for the murdered and raped Armenian women - when it comes to territorial appetites, one can sacrifice honor.

After all, as Catholicos Vazgen said about the inevitable victims, parting words to the organizers of the Sumgayit events: never mind, "let them be a sacrifice for the great Armenian people."