Violence Erupts in Sumgait: Armenian Residents Under Attack

SUMGAIT, Azerbaijan SSR - Organized mobs have begun systematic attacks on Armenian residents in this Caspian Sea port city, marking a horrific escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh territorial dispute.

Witnesses report groups of attackers, some armed with metal pipes and knives, going door-to-door in Armenian neighborhoods, breaking into apartments and assaulting residents. The violence, which began in the afternoon, has spread rapidly through the city’s microdistricts.

“They had lists of Armenian addresses,” said one Russian resident who witnessed the attacks. “This was not spontaneous - it was organized.”

Initial reports indicate multiple casualties, though exact numbers remain unclear as the violence continues. Armenian families are fleeing their homes, seeking shelter in the apartments of Russian and Jewish neighbors or attempting to reach the railway station.

The attacks follow two weeks of escalating tensions after the Nagorno-Karabakh regional council voted to request transfer from Azerbaijan to Armenia. Mass rallies in Baku and Sumgait have grown increasingly hostile toward the Armenian population.

Local law enforcement appears overwhelmed or unwilling to intervene. Soviet troops stationed nearby have not been deployed, despite desperate calls for help from Armenian residents.

“Where are the authorities?” cried one Armenian woman whose apartment was ransacked. “We are Soviet citizens. Why is no one protecting us?”

The violence represents the worst ethnic conflict in the Soviet Union since World War II and poses a severe test for Mikhail Gorbachev’s reform policies. As night falls, fires can be seen in several parts of the city, and the sound of breaking glass echoes through empty streets.

International observers express alarm at the breakdown of order in what was considered a model Soviet industrial city, home to workers of multiple nationalities who had lived in relative harmony for decades.