Armenia Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Gorbachev era==== [[File:Karabakh movement demonstration at Yerevan Opera square (4).jpg|thumb|Armenians gather at [[Freedom Square, Yerevan|Theater Square]] in central [[Yerevan]] to claim unification of [[Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast]] with the [[Armenian SSR]] (1988)]] During the [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] era of the 1980s, with the reforms of [[Glasnost]] and [[Perestroika]], Armenians began to demand better environmental care for their country, opposing the pollution that Soviet-built factories brought. Tensions also developed between Soviet Azerbaijan and its autonomous district of [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], a majority-Armenian region. About 484,000 [[Armenians in Azerbaijan|Armenians]] lived in Azerbaijan in 1970.<ref>"[http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Azerbaijan+Soviet+Socialist+Republic Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103114602/http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Azerbaijan+Soviet+Socialist+Republic |date=3 November 2011}}". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979).</ref> The Armenians of Karabakh demanded unification with Soviet Armenia. Peaceful protests in Armenia supporting the Karabakh Armenians were met with anti-Armenian [[pogrom]]s in Azerbaijan, such as the one in [[Sumgait pogrom|Sumgait]], which was followed by [[Gugark massacre|anti-Azerbaijani violence]] in Armenia.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1088062.html |title=Azerbaijan: Armenians and Azerbaijanis Remember Suffering |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201220163702/https://www.rferl.org/a/1088062.html |archive-date=20 December 2020 |access-date=11 January 2021 |work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|date=9 April 2008 |last1=Naegele |first1=Jolyon }}</ref> Compounding Armenia's problems was a [[1988 Armenian earthquake|devastating earthquake]] in 1988 with a [[moment magnitude scale|moment magnitude]] of 7.2.<ref>Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia 2004. p. 74 by Imogen Gladman, [[Taylor and Francis|Taylor & Francis]] Group</ref> Gorbachev's inability to alleviate any of Armenia's problems created disillusionment among the Armenians and fed a growing hunger for independence. In May 1990, the New [[Armenian Army]] (NAA) was established, serving as a defence force separate from the Soviet [[Red Army]]. Clashes soon broke out between the NAA and [[Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs|Soviet Internal Security Forces]] (MVD) troops based in Yerevan when Armenians decided to commemorate the establishment of the 1918 First Republic of Armenia. The violence resulted in the deaths of five Armenians killed in a shootout with the MVD at the railway station. Witnesses there claimed that the MVD used excessive force and that they had instigated the fighting.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} Further firefights between Armenian militiamen and Soviet troops occurred in [[Nubarashen|Sovetashen]], near the capital and resulted in the deaths of over 26 people, mostly Armenians. The [[pogrom of Armenians in Baku]] in January 1990 forced almost all of the 200,000 Armenians in the Azerbaijani capital [[Baku]] to flee to Armenia.<ref>[http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/articles/pp021603.shtml Notes from Baku: Black January] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827072157/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/articles/pp021603.shtml |date=27 August 2009}}. Rufat Ahmedov. EurasiaNet Human Rights.</ref> On 23 August 1990, Armenia declared its sovereignty on its territory. On 17 March 1991, Armenia, along with the [[Baltic states]], Georgia and [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldova]], boycotted a nationwide [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum]] in which 78% of all voters voted for the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form.<ref name="NewsBrief">{{cite web|url=http://soviethistory.org/index.php?action=L2&SubjectID=1991march&Year=1991 |title=The March Referendum |access-date=10 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061015092843/http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?action=L2&SubjectID=1991march&Year=1991 |archive-date=15 October 2006}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page