YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Matevosyan family living in Stepanakert told EUobserver about the details of massacres committed against Armenians in Sumgait 29 years ago, stating that the April events in Karabakh showed that the situation hasn’t changed, reports “Armenpress”.

Karen Matevosyan tells about the events that took place in February 1988. “I saw a naked girl running through the field. The men surrounded her and started beating her, punching and kicking her. They kept kicking her even after she was dead. I saw this with my own eyes”, he said.

EUobserver writes that events, which Matevosyan called “three day of hell”, give an insight why reconciliation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis remains so hard. “I can’t forgive and forget what they did. Azerbaijanis are still killers and animals”, he said, wiping his tears.

Matevosyan said everything had been normal two days earlier, he was working with his Azerbaijani friends, however, everything changed on February 26. He said “groups of bandits” appeared in the streets chanting “Death to Armenians”. He said the men and boys, some as young as 15, appeared to be drunk or on drugs.

“They must have been given lists because they knew exactly where we [Armenian people] lived. It was prepared in advance. They beat people in the street. They threw their belongings out of the windows into the courtyards and set them on fire. We were hiding at home waiting to die. We couldn’t call for help because the phone lines had been cut. I had to hold my son’s mouth closed to stop him from crying because we were afraid that if he made a noise then they would find us,” he said as quoted by EUobserver.

On February 29 a mob entered their building and started attacking the residents on the second and third floors. When the Russian soldiers appeared on the streets, the Azerbaijanis escaped. “That day I was two minutes away from losing my life”, Karen Matevosyan said.

The Russian troops let him take only the necessary things and took him out from Sumgait. Karen clearly remembers the face and words of a Russian officer: “As a soldier, I’m instructed to tell you that the situation is calm and that you can go back home, but as a human being, after seeing all that blood on the asphalt, I must tell you that I wouldn’t stay here a minute longer because the situation could change again”.

Matevosyan, who served as a soldier in the 1990s, remembers how his co-servicemen captured 10 Azerbaijani soldiers during the war. “They brought the soldiers to me since they knew I was from Sumgait. They told me I can do with them everything I want, however, when I looked at them, I understood that I couldn't do anything”, Matevosyan said, stating that the war has never been between peoples. “During the Soviet times we were friends. I don't think that the Azerbaijanis have ever wanted a war, and I don’t think that they need Nagorno Karabakh. It is the state of Azerbaijan that wants this war for some political reasons”, he said.

He informed that recently he found some of his school friends on the internet. “One of them lives in Baku. I found him and we chatted for two days, and then he said: “Sorry I can’t stay in touch with you any more since it’s dangerous for me to speak with an Armenian”, Matevosyan told EUobserver.