16:00, 1 March 2004

Meeting in memory of victims of Sumgait tragedy takes place in Stepanakert

A meeting in memory of victims of the tragedy in the Azerbaijan town of Sumgait, where mass killings of Armenians took place on February 26-28, 1988, was held at the Memorial Complex in Stepanakert on February 28. Participants addressed a statement to international organizations and heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries. They called to make a political assessment of the crime committed in Sumgait. Speakers noted that the people arrested on suspicion of committing crimes had been either not condemned at all or released from custody shortly after.

President of the Republic of Nagorny Karabakh Arkady Gukasian said the tragedy in Sumgait in 1988 was the first evidence of impossibility of Karabakh's being part of Azerbaijan.

Author: Naira Ayrumian, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot