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“We should have killed more of these Armenians…”

Babayan family lives in Sumgait district of Balahovit village in Kotayk marz. Many families settled in the village after the Sumgait massacres of 1988. Edward Babayan was born in Artsakh. At the age of 18, he moved to Baku, later to Sumgait where he worked in construction. The family had been living in the city for 30 years when the pogroms began. “Turks were pouring in the streets, beating and killing Armenians with stones, sticks, fittings, everything that came to hand,” recalls the 79-year-old man. Azerbaijanis had learnt the addresses of Armenians from local authorities. They attacked and killed everyone. Edward Babayan did not witness the killings but heard about the various crimes committed against Armenians in those days. The Babayans hid in the house of their neighbour. A few days later the police took them to Baku. Babayan’s daughter and the children flew to Tashkent from Baku. At the airport, Edward Babayan heard the conversation of young Azerbaijanis who said, “We should have killed more of these Armenians…” Eventually, Edvard Babayan could get tickets for his wife and son and sent them to Yerevan. The family has been living in Balahovit for 24 years in a house built by Edvard Babayan.