Reflections on the Baku and Sumgait Pogroms: 30 Years Later

On January 13, 1990, a rally promoting anti-Armenian sentiment was held in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital of the USSR, after which the protesters were divided into groups and sent to designated addresses where the Armenian population of the city lived. For six days, under the initiative of the Azerbaijani People's Front and the patronage of the local authorities, the Armenian population of Baku was subjected to inexplicable mass violence—beatings, rape, and murder. Many civilians were killed, i