In 1988 , in the aftermath of the Sumgait pogrom and anti-Armenian riots in Azerbaijan , 39 Armenian refugees were temporarily resettled from Azerbaijan to Dushanbe . In 1990 , the Armenian influx became a subject of the rumour that triggered riots in Dushanbe . The rumour inflated the number of refugees to 2,500 &ndash; 5,000 . According to rumour Armenians allegedly were being resettled in new housing in Dushanbe , which was experiencing an acute housing shortage at that time . Despite the fact that Armenian refugees resettled not in public housing but with their relatives , and by 1990 already left Tajikistan for Armenia , official denouncement of the rumours was not able to stop the protests . Assurances by Communist Party First Secretary Ghagar Makhkamov that no resettlement of Armenians was taking place were rejected by the demonstrators
Sumgait pogrom
Sumgait pogrom
1990 Dushanbe riots