In 1985-1986, the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched a campaign aimed at reforming the Soviet Empire. The Armenians were almost unanimous in their enthusiastic support of perestroika and glastnost.
In late 1987, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh collected over 80,000 signatures to petition the Soviet Government about the secession of the region from the Soviet Azerbaijan and its reunification (Miatsum, in Armenian) to Armenia. After suffering for decades under the Azeri tyranny, the people of Karabakh thought the time was favorable to restore the historical truth.
At the same time, an unprecedented movement of support began in Armenia. Mass meetings, manifestations and general strikes frightened the Soviet leaders. These actions, both in Karabakh and Armenia were peaceful and well organized. As a matter of fact, the Gorbachev's perestroika experienced its first serious trial. To the great disappointment of the Armenians, Moscow first took a wait-and-see attitude, and then openly supported Azerbaijan by saying: "The map of the USSR will never be redrawn".

In February 26-28, Azerbaijan took measures in a classic Ottoman fashion. Mass pogroms occurred in a small city of Sumgait, near Baku. Hundreds of innocent Armenians, including old people, women and children, were attacked in their homes by Azeri fanatic mobs to be beaten, raped, killed and burned alive. For the period of 3 days the city was plunged into complete anarchy. The deadly riots were designed and led by the members of the local government in Sumgait. The apartments of Armenians were ransacked or destroyed.

The rallies and peaceful protest actions in Armenia were organized by a group of intellectuals who formed the Karabakh Committee. The movement initially aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of Armenians in Artsakh gradually transformed into the All-Armenian national liberation movement. The leaders of the Karabakh Committee rapidly gained general support and admiration. By the fall of 1988, the Karabakh Committee became a powerful political force in Armenia.

In late November, as tensions increased and the danger of the new pogroms threatened the Armenians in Azerbaijan, a new wave of meetings and strikes began in Armenia. A large number of Armenian refugees fled Azerbaijan and arrived in Armenia.
In Kirovabad, the second large city of Azerbaijan, the barbaric atrocities were committed. The armed Azeri bandits broke into an old people's home and killed a dozen of aged Armenians. Following the common practice of a "parity rule", the Soviet Government imposed marshal law in both unruly Azerbaijan and peaceful Armenia.