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Armenian National Committee of Belgium organized a demonstration outside the Embassy of Azerbaijan on Wednesday in memory of victims of pogroms in Sumgait, Maragha, Mingechaur, Kirovabad and other cities, the newspaper "Asbarez" reports.

Flapping the flags of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, chanting calls in French, English, Russian and Armenian the protesters reminded of the bloody past and present of Azerbaijan, about the pogroms, that started in 1988, about the murder of Gurgen Margaryan and the heroic death of Armen Hovhannisyan (serviceman of the NKR Defense Army, who died on January 20, in 2014 during the repulsion of the Azerbaijani sabotage - Ed. note). They called on the Armenians of all over the world to never forget these events, and in that case Azerbaijan will sooner or later be forced to recognize and accept the independence of Artsakh.

According to the publication, the demonstrators read out loud a letter addressed to the Embassy of Azerbaijan, and then made a procession to the Genocide Memorial in Brussels. With the participation of the Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Armenian Ambassador Avet Adonts, the head of the Armenian mission to NATO Armen Yedigaryan and the representatives of the Armenian community a prayer was read for the repose of the souls of all the victims. Wreaths were laid at the memorial.

On 26-29 February 1988 in terms of actual complicity of local authorities and inaction of the USSR government mass pogroms of civilians were organized in Sumgait city of Azerbaijani SSR, accompanied with unprecedented brutal murders, violence and pillaging against the Armenian population of the city. Armenian pogroms in Sumgait were carefully organized. At the meetings, which began on February 26 in the central square, city leaders openly called for violence against the Armenians.

On February 27 protests which were attended by hundreds of rioters turned into violence. Armed with axes, knives, specially sharpened rebar, rocks and cans of gasoline and with the pre-compiled lists of apartments where Armenians lived the rioters broke into the houses, turning everything upside down there and killing the owners. In the same time, people were often taken out to the streets or to the courtyard for jeering at them publicly. After painful humiliations and torture the victims were doused with gasoline and burnt alive. On February 29 army troops entered Sumgait but without an order to intervene. Only in the evening, when the mad crowd began to attack the soldiers the military units took up decisive steps.

The exact number of victims of Sumgait pogroms is still unknown. According to official data, 27 Armenians were killed; however there is ample evidence that several hundred Armenians have been killed in the city in three days. There is also evidence that the riots were coordinated by the Azerbaijani KGB. Executioners of Sumgait were subsequently declared as national heroes of Azerbaijan.

Documentary “Ordinary Genocide: Sumgait 1988.”