Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) has officially launched a book titled “Sumgayit events from a primary source” in which a former Soviet investigator sheds light on Sumgayit events that happened in 1988.

The author of the book is Saadat Kadyrova, a graduate of Moscow State University and University of Denver, member of the international and Russian unions of journalists, head of the Department for Relations with Diplomatic Information Structures at TASS agency, foreign policy expert and political scientist. The book features an interview with Vladimir Kalinichenko, a Russian investigator, senior detective for special cases at the USSR Office of Prosecutor General, who investigated the events in Sumgayit.

Opening the launch ceremony, editor in chief of AZERTAC Yashar Quluzade said that the idea of writing the book was put forward by the agency`s Director General Aslan Aslanov. Quluzade said that the main advantage of the book is a confession (testimony) of Vladimir Kalinichenko, who carried out the investigation of Sumgayit events. “According to Kalinichenko, the investigators were given an order not to search for and reveal the organizers of the Sumgayit crime.

The Sumgayit events were organized against the people of Azerbaijan with the aim of discrediting them in the eyes of the international community, set Armenians and Azerbaijanis against each other and undermine the possibility of coexistence of the two nations in the same habitat,” said Quluzade.

The editor of the book Tamilla Nuriyeva drew the audience`s attention to how the idea to write the book was born.

Author Saadat Kadyrova provided an insight into the book.

Elmira Akhundova, well-known publicist and MP, praised the professional skills of the author. According to Akhundova, Vladimir Kalinichenko confirmed two fundamental facts: “The first is that these events cannot be interpreted as the ‘Armenian genocide’, and the second is that they were organized by the secret service of the then USSR. Vladimir Kalinichenko is one of the honest investigators. He was neither on the side of Azerbaijan nor Armenia, he was on the side of justice,” said Akhundova. She also stressed the necessity of launching the book in Russia.

MP Asim Mollazade noted the importance of translating the book into foreign languages and also publishing it online “so that the international community learn the truth about the organizers of the Sumgayit events”.

Prior to the presentation of the book Saadat Kadyrova met with Director General of AZERTAC Aslan Aslanov. "The book reveals the first hand information provided by the person who was directly involved in the investigation," said the Director General. He also hailed relations between AZERTAC and TASS.

Saadat Kadyrova thanked AZERTAC for assistance in publishing the book.AZERTAC