This article examines the violence committed against women during the massacres of Armenians in the cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad (Gandzak), and Baku in 1988-1990. Despite the extensive documentation of these events, the gendered aspect of this violence, particularly the targeting Armenian women, has not been sufficiently studied. This gap in research is particularly evident when it comes to classifying such crimes under international criminal law. While much attention has been given to the broader ethnic violence during these massacres, the specific suffering of women — who were subjected to extreme forms of violence — has remained largely underexplored. Thus, the aim of this article is to present a deeper analysis of the violence perpetrated against Armenian women, drawing from survivor testimonies, legal documents, and human rights reports. Research indicates that nearly half of the Armenian victims during these massacres were women, with their ages ranging from teenage girls to elderly women in their 80s and 90s. Armenian women were not only killed or injured, but many were also subjected to horrific forms of violence, including torture, rape, public humiliation, and other acts intended to degrade their dignity and destroy their identity. By analyzing these crimes through the lens of gender violence, this article seeks to classify the violence against Armenian women as a specific form of atrocity within the broader context of ethnic conflict.
