Soviets Enforce Curfew After Ethnic Rioting

Soviet troops enforced a strict curfew Tuesday to prevent further ethnic rioting in Sumgait, an industrial city about 20 miles north of Baku in the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

The outburst caused deep concern in Moscow. Kremlin leaders conferred on what steps they might take to restore normalcy in the republic.

Like earlier rioting, which broke out in mid-February in Azerbaijan and in the neighboring republic of Armenia, the disorder in Sumgait was apparently touched off by Armenian demands to regain control of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is situated within Azerbaijan.

Two weeks ago the regional governing council in Nagorno-Karabakh, the population of which is overwhelmingly Armenian, reportedly voted to seek reunification with Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh has been designated an autonomous region since 1923.

Muslims, Christians

According to officials in Moscow, there were clashes Sunday in Sumgait involving Azerbaijanis, who are for the most part Shia Muslims, and Armenians, who are mostly Christians. The officials said there were injuries but did not elaborate.

Police officials in Sumgait, contacted by telephone, said that soldiers and armored personnel carriers were sent in to enforce the curfew, which is reportedly in force from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. They indicated that the curfew will be enforced until there is no possibility of renewed rioting in the city of 124,000.

Gennady I. Gerasimov, principal spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told reporters that the curfew was imposed to curb the disorder. He described the situation in Sumgait as “calm but tense.”

Gerasimov acknowledged that there have been injuries. He said that “if there are acts of violence, there are certain to be injuries.” But he avoided reporters’ questions about whether there had been fatalities. An official said Sunday in an interview broadcast by Baku Radio that two young Azerbaijani men had been killed.

Gorbachev Urged Calm

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev issued an appeal for calm last Friday, but the rioting in Sumgait indicated that his words were not being heeded everywhere in the two republics.

Gerasimov confirmed that Gorbachev had met last week with two Armenian representatives, both writers, to discuss the issue. After the talk and Gorbachev’s appeal for calm, the Armenian organizers of the demonstrations decided to suspend them for a month to give the Soviet authorities time to consider the matter of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nonetheless, Gerasimov said, “rolling demonstrations”--people taking to the streets in shifts--were continuing in Stepanakert, the disputed region’s capital.

Foreign correspondents have been barred from traveling to the area for the time being, Gerasimov said, to allow passions to cool.

“At the moment, your appearance could be misused by nationalist elements to the detriment of everybody,” he told reporters.

Gerasimov acknowledged that mistakes had been made in connection with Nagorno-Karabakh, but he refused to go into detail.