Azerbaijan marks Day of Genocide

Today, Azerbaijan marks Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

On March 31, 1918 in Baku, gangs from the party ARF (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) supported the Bolshevik leadership of the Baku Commune massacred the unarmed civilian population of Turkic quarters. Under the pretext of counter-revolution, they began the destruction of Azerbaijani civilians.

As a result of this barbaric action, about 12,000 residents were killed only in Baku. The outrage in Baku lasted from March 30 to April 2. During this time in Baku and the surrounding settlements were killed about 50,000 people, and mosques, schools and historical monuments were destroyed.
The massacre of the Muslim population was led by the city's Revolutionary Defense Committee Chairman, Stepan Shaumyan. The Chief of Staff of the Red Army in Baku was the tsarist army colonel, a member of the Dashnak Party Z. Avetisyan.

After the ethnic cleansing in the Baku district, killing civilians continued in Shamakhi, Guba and other regions of Azerbaijan.

Public safety was restored only after the arrival of the Caucasian Islamic Army on September 15.

The events of March - April 1918 were only one of the pages of the tragic history of the country. Throughout the XXth century, about 2 million Azerbaijanis became victims of genocide and were deported. The process of displacement of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands began in the nineteenth century after the Russian occupation of Azerbaijan.

The deportation policy was continued in the years of Soviet power. Thus, in the years 1948-53, on the decision of the Soviet leadership hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis were evicted from Armenia. A new round of ethnic cleansing was carried out in the late 80s of the XXth century, when as a result of the Armenian aggression tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis were killed or wounded, and hundreds of thousands became refugees.

March 31 is celebrated as the Day of Genocide by the decree of President Heydar Aliyev since March 26, 1998.

On the occasion of the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis events are held in research centers, universities, schools , political parties and public organizations.

Citizens visit mass graves of victims of the genocide and prayers for the dead are performed in mosques. -0 –