Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom.

The Sumgait pogrom 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 took place during the early stages of the Karabakh movement. On February 27, 1988, mobs of Azerbaijanis formed into groups and attacked and killed Armenians on the streets and in their apartments; widespread looting occurred, and a general lack of concern from police officers allowed the violence to continue for three days.

Armenians are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia. Armenians constitute the main demographic group in Armenia and constituted the main population of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh until their subsequent flight due to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive. There is a large diaspora of around five million people of Armenian ancestry living outside the Republic of Armenia. The largest Armenian populations exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil, Argentina, Syria, and Turkey. The present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide with the exceptions of Iran, former Soviet states, and parts of the Levant.

Sumqayit is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about 31 kilometres 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 Azerbaijan after Baku.