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Soviet Union [USSR] Armenians
The complexity of the nationalities question and the potential
danger it has raised for the Soviet regime were clearly
demonstrated in the mass shown in the Armenian Republic in 1988. In
the past, Armenians had been one of the nationalities most loyal to
Moscow. Nevertheless, in February 1988 hundreds of thousands of
Armenians staged a four-day demonstration in Yerevan, the
republic's capital, demanding the return to the Armenian Republic
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, an autonomous region
that had been under the administration of the Azerbaydzhan Republic
since the early 1920s and was populated largely by Armenians. When
Soviet authorities showed some sympathy for Armenian demands,
infuriated Azerbaydzhan residents of the city of Sumgait, which had
a considerable Armenian population, went on a rampage that left 32
dead and 197 wounded, according to official accounts. The regime
recognized that altering nationality borders could provoke dire
consequences and refused the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast's
request to unite with the Armenian Republic. When the NagornoKarabakh soviet voted to secede from the Azerbaydzhan Republic, the
regime declared the vote illegal, arrested and expelled the leader
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Committee, which had been formed in the
Armenian Republic, and sent armed troops into Yerevan, the capital
of the Armenian Republic. Other members of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Committee were arrested and taken to Moscow. But the aroused
passions continued, and the Armenian national movement gathered
momentum in September 1988, when 100,000 people demonstrated in
Yerevan.
Data as of May 1989
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