The 1988 violence in Shusha and Stepanakert was the expulsion of the ethnic

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

population of

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

and the ethnic Azerbaijani population of

Stepanakert Stepanakert officially Khankendi is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. It was the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in ...

, in the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was an Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union, autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majori ...

in the

Azerbaijani SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, from September 18 to 20, 1988. During the violence, 33 Armenians and 16 Azerbaijanis were wounded, more than 30 houses hed been set on fire, and a 61-year-old Armenian was killed.Gha-ra-bagh!: The Emergence of the National Democratic Movement in Armenia, By Mark Malkasian, Wayne State University Press, 1996, pp. 143-144
/ref> At the end of the violence, 3,117 ethnic Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Stepanakert. The events was one of the acts of ethnic violence in the context of the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbai ...

, carried out along the demands of the

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

in Nagorno-Karabakh to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia.

Background

Throughout modern history the city of

, known to Armenians as Shushi, mainly fostered a mixed Armenian–Azerbaijani population. Following the Shusha massacre in 1920, the Armenian population of the city was mostly killed or expelled, and the city reduced to a town with a dominant Azerbaijani population. Stepanakert, located in the

Karabakh Plateau The Karabakh Plateau or Syunik Plateau (, ) is a volcanic plateau of the Lesser Caucasus, in Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the most eastern point of Armenian Highlands. It extends from the south of the Murovdag/Mrav range towards the East Sevan Ra ...

, was the capital of the

(NKAO), with an

majority, and an Azerbaijani minority. According to the

1979 Soviet census In January 1979, the Soviet Union conducted its first census in nine years (since 1970). Between 1970 and 1979, the total Soviet population increased from 241,720,134 to 262,084,654, an increase of 8.4%. Summary As in 1970, Russians, Ukrainians, ...

, the city had a population of 38,980 people, mostly of Armenians, who constituted 87% of the total population, and more than four thousand Azerbaijanis. On March 1, Armenian refugees from

Sumgayit Sumqayit (or Sumgait; ; , ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city had a population of 427,000 at the beginning of 2024, making it the second largest city in ...

arrived in Stepanakert, following the

Sumgait pogrom The Sumgait pogrom, : "Sumgait massacres"; lit.: "Sumgait events"; , was perpetrated by ethnic Azerbaijanis against the Armenian population of the town of Sumgait, in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, in February 1988. The pogrom to ...

. During the Summer-autumn of 1988 the wave of mutual violence in the NKAO grows. On September 18, 1988 a clash between Armenians and Azerbaijanis occurred near the Azerbaijani village of Khojaly (NKAO); several Armenians received gunshot wounds, one Armenian was killed. According to

Thomas de Waal Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal (born 1966) is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He is best known for his 2003 book '' Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War''. Li ...

, "the violence heralded disaster for the minority communities of Karabakh's two main towns, as all the Armenians were driven from Shusha and the Azerbaijanis were expelled from Stepanakert". The exchange of populations took place as a result of clashes in Khojaly. In Stepanakert Armenians burned Azerbaijani houses, while in Shusha Azerbaijanis burned Armenian houses. Since May 1988 this was the first anti-Armenian violence in Shusha. Armenian population of Shusha were subjected to tension. A crowd of 600 people threatened to burn down houses of Armenians, destroyed their property.Shushi/Shusha, living in a symbol, OBC Transeuropa, 2020
/ref> The expulsion of

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

also began on September 18, 1988, with 3,117 ethnic Azerbaijanis becoming refugees at the end of the month. The violence was accompanied by beatings and arson of houses. On September 21, the Soviet troops stationed in the city imposed a curfew to preserve the situation.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Conflicts in 1988 Anti-Azerbaijanism in Armenia Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic War crimes in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War 1988 in Azerbaijan Stepanakert September 1988 in Asia Anti-Azerbaijani pogroms Anti-Armenian pogroms Anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan Racially motivated violence in Asia