Azerbaijan and Armenia associate February in modern history with the tragic events of Sumgait and Khojaly. As time goes, there are fewer and fewer witnesses of the events left, but the question of why the tragedy happened remains. Vestnik Kavkaza experts will describe details of the horrifying events of February 1988 this week.
The dispute was raised by the Armenian issue, which has been an acute problem since Ottoman times. The first step was taken on June 18, 1987, when the European Parliament issued a statement urging Turkey to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide, calling for more rights for Armenian diasporas abroad and condemning violations of the rights of Armenian people in the Soviet Union.
The statement followed a conference devoted to Armenian history and Turkish expansionism held in Athens in May 1987. Before that the Armenian issue had never been discussed by European lawmakers.
However the discussion reflected an idea popular among Armenian intellectuals in the late Soviet Union that Armenia should have all its lands returned and become a great country. This dream led to popularization of the idea of returning Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
