In 1918, one of the most horrific genocides in history was perpetrated against the Azerbaijani people by the Dashnak-Bolshevik alliance. From March 30 – April 2, 1918, 12,000 Azerbaijanis were killed in Baku over 3 days. The Dashnak-Bolshevik alliance continued the genocide crimes it began against Azerbaijanis in Baku in March 1918 in other districts of the Baku Governorate, as well as in the territories of the Ganja and Iravan Governorates. During the genocides committed by the Dashnak-Bolshevik alliance in 1918, a total of 128,708 Azerbaijanis were annihilated across Azerbaijan, including 41,300 in the Baku Governorate, 11,768 in the Ganja Governorate, and 75,640 in the Iravan Governorate.
Across Azerbaijan, up to 20 cities and district centers, and 950 villages, including 367 in the Baku Governorate, 276 in the Ganja Governorate, and 307 in the Iravan Governorate, were plundered, destroyed, and burned. Hundreds of thousands of people were condemned to live as refugees and internally displaced persons. Material damage amounting to 6.7 billion rubles, at 1918 prices, was inflicted upon the property of the Azerbaijani population.
The main objective behind the perpetration of this genocide was to suppress our people's struggle for Azerbaijan's autonomy and independence, to prevent this process, and to seize Azerbaijani lands. For this purpose, all Russian and Armenian political parties and organizations operating in Baku united on a single front against Azerbaijanis. It was precisely through Russian-Armenian cooperation that the genocide of Azerbaijanis was carried out in 1918.
From the documents of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission, established by the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on July 15, 1918, to investigate the genocide crimes committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis, it becomes clear that the plan for the genocide to be perpetrated in Baku was prepared as early as 1917 by the “Dashnaktsutyun” party and the Armenian National Council. The investigation and inquiry conducted by the Extraordinary Investigation Commission fully proved that Azerbaijanis were massively murdered purely based on their racial, national, and religious characteristics, without distinction for women, the elderly, or children, and the property of the population was plundered. At the same time, people were killed with torment and torture, and after their deaths, heinous acts of violence were committed on their corpses, and unspeakably humiliating acts were carried out on human bodies.
Hundreds of documents exist confirming that the burning and heinous desecration of Muslim corpses were perpetrated by Armenian intellectuals and church figures.
The perpetration of genocide by Armenians against Azerbaijanis on racial and national grounds was fully proven as early as 1918 by the investigation and inquiry materials, expert protocols, and witness testimonies of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission. The investigation and inquiry materials of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission prove that the massacres committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis in 1918 constitute the most heinous genocide crime perpetrated in the 20th century.
On March 31, 1919, and again in 1920, this date was observed as a national day of mourning by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. On March 26, 1998, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, with the Decree he signed “On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis,” gave a political assessment to the 1918 genocides committed against our people and declared March 31 as the “Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.”
In April 2007, it was proven that more than 50 of the approximately 500 human skulls found in a mass grave discovered in Guba belonged to children, and more than 100 belonged to women, and that they were victims of the genocide perpetrated by Armenians in Guba in 1918. With the aim of immortalizing the memory of the Guba genocide victims, by the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, dated December 30, 2009, it was decided to establish the “Genocide Memorial Complex” in Guba city. President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the memorial complex, built on the left bank of the Gudyalchay River in Guba city, on September 18, 2013.
The scale of the genocides committed against Azerbaijanis in 1918, as understood from the investigation documents, gives reason to believe that mass graves like the one discovered in Guba exist in all regions of Azerbaijan, and their number is in the hundreds. It is crucial that all these are investigated, brought to light, and presented to the international community.
The genocides committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis, including the 1918 genocides, must be recognized on an international level, and the issue of their legal assessment must be resolved. The creation of an environment of impunity in the international legal system must not be allowed under any circumstances. The existing environment of impunity has created new precedents and has encouraged the perpetration of subsequent crimes against our people, such as discrimination, deportation, terror, murder, massacres, and the Khojaly genocide by Armenians. To prevent such crimes committed against our people from becoming precedents, those who committed these crimes and their responsible successors must be prosecuted and punished. This is also essential for ensuring justice.
Vasif Gafarov,
Member of Parliament
Doctor of Historical Sciences
