1918: Lankaran and Mughan are on fire (second part)

On the eve of the March events, a delegation consisting of Ilyin, David Chirkin, Terentii Sukharikov and Yakov Grankin from the Caucasus front arrived in Baku on the Saturin ship to report to the Revolutionary Defense Council of the Baku Soviet on the latest developments in Mughan. Six volunteers who had previously been sent to Mughan were with them. Shortly after they arrived in Baku on March 28, the March massacre began, and a group from Mughan also took part in the fighting on the streets of the city against the Muslim population. Only after the end of the national massacre in Baku on April 3, they came to the Revolutionary Defense Council and reported to Shaumian and Japaridze about the recent situation in Mughan. They asked the Revolutionary Defense Committee, established during the March events in Baku, to provide military assistance to fight against the Tatar (Azerbaijani) Cavalry Regiments, and to help the Mughan peasants to establish Soviet government in the area.[6] Following this report, a number of volunteers from Mughan were arrested and the Revolutionary Defense Council decided to send the Alexander Zhandr ship to Lankaran with Bolshevik-Dashnak units.[7] According to Dobynin the red units consisted mainly of Armenian refugees, fellow deserters, and other homeless and unbridled trash.[8]

Filin, who was also a participant in the Mughan events, confirmed that the clashes began in late 1917. He writes that “in September 1917, I went to Mughan. At that time, there was talk of arming the population. After the New Year, we heard that the Bolgarchay village had been robbed. Then Colonel Ilyashevich created a parallel company. I was in the 3rd company and I headed to Bolgarchay for help. The village had been burned down. We asked the refugees to join us and we arrived in Prishib in early February. After a meeting, we decided to go to Lankaran. When we arrived in Lankaran, everything was fine. The Mughan Company was established there. I was appointed as the feldwebel (Feldwebel - is a non-commissioned officer rank in several countries. The rank originated in Germany, and is also used in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria) of the company. We stayed there for two weeks and then suddenly a ship appeared to arm the people. Later, we were told that the Baku workers arrived at the port in another ship. However, it turned out that this was the Musavatist Tatar (Azerbaijani) Cavalry Regiment rather than the Baku workers. The Tatar Cavalry Regiment was led by A. Mirzabeyov. [It should be Ali Asadullayev. At that time, the units of the Tatar Cavalry Regiment were led by Ali Asadullayev and Mahammad Taghiyev, while the local national army consisted of the volunteers were led by Sultan bey Gulubeyov and Aslan bey Talishinski.] We saw that the situation was getting worse. I was sent to Prishib to report to Ilyashevich about all this. We attacked Lankaran and immediately arrested Nikolayevsky. In the morning, the representatives of the Russian clergy came to demand that in three days we should put our weapons down and live peacefully. We didn’t give up our weapons and stayed there for 48 hours. Our cartridges were limited, so we went to Baku for cartridges. A few days later we heard that the March events had taken place in Baku. When I went to Baku I saw near the Kur river that a red-flagged ship was going to Lankaran. Sukharikov, Shevkunov and others were on board. I took cartridges from the ship and returned to Gizilaghaj. The next morning, we started to attack Lankaran. There were 15 of us. In the battles, we killed Sultan bey [Gulubeyov] and captured Pensar. On April 28, 1918, we returned to Mughan.”[9] A former military officer who was a key player in sending ammunition to Lankaran and Mughan said that one million cartridges were delivered to Lankaran in a single barque called the Chaika.[10] This was more than the entire population living in Lankaran Uyezd. The Bolsheviks turned Privolny into a weapons storehouse. According to I. Shabanov, the artillery storehouse of Lankaran Uyezd was located in Privolny and it had 40,000 cannon balls.[11] Therefore, the first battalion entered Lankaran, fired on all sides indiscriminately and shot not only the people but also the animals.[12] A participant of these events VAsilii Dobrynin wrote that, " around the burning houses. With a roar of collapsing , burning roof. Dead Tartars (Turks – J.H.), horses, dogs, and pigs lie everywhere."[13] Donskoy, who served in the same group of bandits, admitted that robbery had become commonplace, especially in the Muslim villages that they took; they carried everything from the villages before burning them. All this happened in early 1918. “In general, our squadron was carrying out all revolutionary tasks from death to prison.”[14]

***

Red Guards and the Russian units of every color established a “government” in almost every village they took. Faykovsky noted, “first, we attacked Garmaturk village. There, we created an independent government which included Sukharikov, Krestovski, Matveyev, and Kropotov. Sukharikov was responsible for all military and internal affairs, Matveyev was responsible for food supply, Kropotov was responsible for airstrikes since we had one airplane, and I was responsible for investigations. The prisons were full. 300 undocumented and poor people were arrested.”[15] Almost all of them were poor Turks and Talysh peasants of the surrounding villages. Although Kropotov was appointed an officer in charge of air raids, the airplanes brought to Sara Island were not suitable for airstrikes. Even though they wanted to bomb the village of Shahaghaj, it was not possible to fly the airplane because the plane was returned from Shahaghaj to Sara Island. Mikhail Romanov was reappointed commander of the artillery division and took Shahaghaj mosque with the help of the sailors of the hydro-aviation unit.[16] Faykovsky added that “shortly afterwards, Gahramanov’s unit, consisting of the Dashnaks, arrived in Lankaran. Lankaran was under the control of the Eser led by Krestovsky, the other Eser leaders were Sukharikov, Matveyev, Zakharyan, Totelberg, Najarov, Vasin, and Ter-Yeganov.”[17] The General Assembly of the Soviets held in Lankaran on June 15, 1918, was also under the control of the Esers. The Eser Sukharikov was the chairman of the then recently established Uyezd Executive Committee, and his deputies were Gulam Naghiyev and Grigori Arustamov. In that “government,” the Eser Abezgauz was food commissioner, another Eser Ter-Nersesov was land commissioner, and Sambors, a Colonel of the Tsar’s army, was the interior commissioner.[18] In general, Lankaran was a nest of right-wing Esers. Akopov was sent from Baku to run the party. He toured all of Mughan, but was unable to create a party structure because in Mughan, the clashes were based on national rather than class struggle.[19]

Zulfali Ibrahimov, a well-known Azerbaijani Soviet historian, explained the strong influence of the esers in the uyezds of Lankaran and Javad compared to other places in Azerbaijan by the sheer number of Russian villages and in those uyezds dislocated military units.[20] However, at the beginning of the events, the Musavat Party's social base in Lankaran uyezd was far superior to that of the Bolsheviks, esers, and Mensheviks. In the parliamentary elections in November, 1917, Musavat received more votes in this uyezd than all the other parties.[21] The arrival of Mahammad Emin Rasulzadeh, the leader of the Musavat party, in Lankaran (he was in Lankaran for the first time when he returned from Iran in 1911) and Astara in March, 1917 played an important role in establishing a local branch of Musavat Party in the uyezd. People of Lankaran and Astara welcomed Rasulzadeh with great joy. People from the surrounding villages came to his meeting and informed him of their situation. Rasulzadeh's visit, together with the "Russian-Turkish, Talysh-speaking international convoy," to the villages of Archivan and Tankarud and his meetings with local residents Mashadi Mahammad Asgarov and Mirza Huseyn Akhundov were interesting in terms of exploring the situation in Astara. Rasulzadeh stayed the night at the home of Mashadi Namatullah Imamali’s son in the village Archivan, which had approximately 500 voters. Rasulzadeh wrote that when he was speaking at a public meeting in Tankarud, “Mashadi Mahammed wanted to translate my words into the Talysh language, but the people said that translation is not needed because most of them knew Turkish and they would translate themselves for those who didn't know the language.” During his visit, Rasulzadeh established a branch of Musavat party in the region and Teymur bey Bayramalibeyov, a well-known educator, was elected the first chairman of the party’s Lankaran branch.[22] From the first days of 1918, the socialist-democratic organization of Azerbaijanis - Hummat Party also made a decision to expand its activities in Lankaran Uyezd, to assist the Bolsheviks.

In June 1918, Akopov, together with Ryabov, who had been sent from Baku to form a party, distributed party membership cards to the Russian population, local Molokan military units that had fought against the local Muslim population, and the Red Guards who came from Baku and did not have any party affiliation. Osipov, who was serving at Lankaran, recalled that a long-haired, short Armenian friend, Akopov, had come to Lankaran. He gave me and Sarokin 150 blank party membership cards to attract people to the party. Isay Gorbunov, Moisey Bocharnikov and Kosenkov came from Privolny and were offered to establish a local party cell.[23] Only in Privolny was it possible to establish a local Bolshevik party cell consisting of Sidomonov, Hayk Arustamov, Sorokin, Lomakin, Maksimov, Borshev and several others, and many members of the cell were not locals. By the end of 1918, about 60 Russian Subbotniks, Molokans, and Orthodox believers joined the Bolshevik Party. In 1918, the Mughan Turkic population did not join Akopov's Bolshevik Party. In Lankaran, however, the Bolsheviks failed to establish a party.[24]

According to Faykovsky, during the Baku events, the Red Guards from Georgia were dispatched to Lankaran because they could not be kept in Baku. When Makarov, who was involved in the debate, asked Faykovsky whether the local Turks had joined them, the latter replied: ”We had Turks from Baku, but only two Turks joined us in Lankaran: Sadikhov and another cook, whose name I forgot, who was killed.”[25] In fact, Bolsheviks first tried to influence the Lankaran’s turks and talysh intellectuals Ali Mammadov, Musa Sadikhov, the actor Mutalib Kalantarli and others. However, after military operations began, they said they would not fight because they were against bloodshed.[26] After the defeat of the Baku Commune, the fate of the few Muslim “activists” cooperating with the Red Guards in Mughan and Lankaran were not so good. Although some of them were able to escape the wrath of the people, some were arrested. In his memoirs, Musa Sadikhov said that as soon as the news of the Baku commissars’ escape spread, everyone was trying to leave the trenches and escape by the first ship they found. “We took a ship, spent five days in the sea and went out to Gumushal ... There was a Georgian guy with us, who suggested we seize a ship and escape to Astrakhan. If the captain doesn’t comply, he continued, we’ll kill him. However, the crew caught us and handed us over to the 17th dock. A few minutes later, Israfil khan Talishkhanov came and said, ‘Aha! The Bolsheviks.’ He punched me 2-3 times and said, ‘Are you the troublemaker?’ We were handed over to Hidayat Mahmudov, an intelligence officer … The next day, I was taken to the port. In the evening, Israfil khan came with 4 people and asked what my nationality was? I said Turk. He said, ‘You’re not a Turk. If you were Turk, you wouldn’t have burned down any houses, you wouldn’t have sold Turkic girls to the Russians.’ Then he started to beat me up. Three days later, I was taken out of the basement and taken to Israfil khan. There were 20 Lankaranis. Everybody was talking as if without me the Lankaran events would not have happened. Israfil khan asked whether I knew Sadikhov. My neighbor Imamverdi Shahbazbeyov said, ‘I saw with my own eyes that Sadikhov and four Russians captured a pregnant Turkic woman and put a dagger in her belly. I saw with my own eyes how the baby fell from the womb.’ Seven people from Lankaran were arrested and put in a basement with me.”[27] Musa Sadikhov believed that his neighbors had mistaken him for Bahram Aghayev, the representative of the social-democratic Ədalət (Justice) Party in Lankaran. The news of the Bolshevik brutality in Lanrakan and Astara also reached Iranian Azerbaijan. Bahram Aghayev noted, “Comrades in Iranian Astara wrote to me that although Lankaran is under the control of the Bolsheviks, they oppress the peasants, and such actions undermine our work and influence in Iran.”[28]    

After the arrival of the mixed forces of the Baku Soviet in Lankaran, Russian and Armenian troops, which had been previously driven out of the city by the Tatar Cavalry Regiment and either escaped to the Russian villages of Mughan in the north, or Astara and Anzali in the south, returned to Lankaran and continued to oppress local Muslims. The main objective of the provisional interchangeable government bodies (the Provisional Mughan Committee, the Mughan Revolutionary Committee, the Mughan Executive Committee, etc.) created in the Russian villages of Mughan was to clear the Turkic population out of Mughan and Lankaran  and the Talysh population out of the surrounding villages. Until the arrival of Mohsun Israfilbeyov (Gadirli), who was sent to Mughan and Lankaran under the mandate of the extraordinary commissar of the Baku People's Commissars in May 1918, Armenian Dashnak and Red Guard units carried out several attacks against the Muslim population of the region. After the Alexander Zhandr landed in Lankaran, in the middle of April, an international division, including Mitinkov, was sent to Mughan.[29] The Baku Soviet sent to Lankaran not only military units and ammunition, but also a hydroplane on the Alexander Zhandr. Immediately, an airport was built on Sara Island to bomb Lankaran and scare the city's Muslim population. Members of the Mughan Revolutionary Committee (Grankin, Zhirkov, Blek and others) were sent to Sara Island on small ships to protect the airport.[30] Shortly after the "Alexander Zhandr" warship, the Baku Soviet sent a new military expedition to Lankaran with the” Kyrgyz " ship. In order to surround the Tatar Cavalry forces in Nikolayevka, the Red Guards, consisting of 40 soldiers and officers, 2 machine guns, and 12 Berdan rifles, managed to take Lankaran city with the help of the local Russian population, 10 refugee sailors, and other forces. The bombardment of the city in the direction of the Grand Bazaar frightened the Muslim population. A day later, a white flag was lifted at the Grand Bazaar Mosque because the bombs had caused heavy damage. The Red Guards demanded that the remaining weapons of the Tatar Cavalry, including 4 cannons, be turned over to them. According to reports of the hostages, the Muslim population of the city brought the ammunition and 4 cannons to the shore. These weapons were taken as military loot. Because the former of the Russian Imperial Army Colonel Osten-Sacken favored negotiations with the Savage Division and local Musavatists, the Russian pro-monarchist officers wanted to kill him. Colonel Osten-sacken did not want to aggravate relations with the Tatars , and did not particularly trust the newly arrived sailors, among whom Bolshevism might break out.[31] He even met with the Musavat leader Mahammad Amin Rasulzadeh, who was in Lankaran in March 1917, to give him extensive information about the military and political situation in the uyezd.[32] Colonel Osten-Sacken was arrested after the Red Guards arrived in Lankaran.[33]

Before the arrival of these ships, a large number of people were being held hostage by Colonel Ilyashevich in Mughan. Matveyev, who served in units in the Russian villages, wrote, “I was an assistant to Gorlin, the commissar of the Lankaran unit under the control of Orlov. When the Tsarist army was dismissed, I arrived in Privolny on January 1, 1918.  At that time, parallel self-defense units were established in Privolny, Prishib and other Russian villages. The dismissed border guards gave their weapons to the Russian villages. Part of the weapons was brought from Lankaran while artillery machines and cannons were brought from Baku. At that time in Privolny except for the cavalry squadron, there were 500 bayonets, together with Ilyashevich’s group, there were 700-800 people in our unit. One day, a fight broke out in northern Mughan, up to Bolgarchay. The population of the Russian villages in all these areas was concentrated in Prishib, Privolny, Astarkhanovka and Novogolovka. At the end, the village of Grigoryevka was burned down … After discussing it with the guys, we decided that it was necessary to attack the villages of Khirmandali and Beydilli. It was in the winter of 1918. We started, and some of them retreated to the reeds. When we came back, we destroyed the village of Alar ... 2-3 days later, all the mullahs and the akhunds (Muslim Shi’i clergy title) of the Muslim villages of Mughan were gathered and they were asked to let us enter the village of Nikolayevka. We had to meet the ships from Baku.”[34]  After this assistance came, the forces of the Russian population, with the help of Bicherakhov and General Makarov, began to fight against the Tatar Cavalry Regiments and were defeated by a Muslim corps in the three-day battle. The Russian forces took some part of the ammunition on the ships and retreated to Prishib. In fact, the main goal of the Tatar Cavalry Regiment in Lankaran was to move north over Salyan and to free Baku from the foreigners. In a letter to Moscow, Stepan Shaumian also warned that the Savage Division from Lankaran had arrived in Salyan, south of Baku.[35]  

The composition of the "International Regiments" sent to Mughan and Lankaran by Baku Bolsheviks was not based on social stratification. The majority of them were volunteers who were sent to Mughan for their orthodox religious fanaticism. At times, it seemed that the united front of "Soviet" revolutionaries of the Baku Soviet and their rivals in the mainland Russia i.e. “anti-revolutionaries” and monarchists were coming jointly to Mughan to “liberate” the Russian orthodox and Molokan people from the Muslim population. Yakov Grankin notes, I went to Mughan from Baku to create a national regiment. On the Liza Sokolova I was accompanied by two colonels, Pelenkin and Petrov, as well as 30 volunteers. Revolutionary frontier guards also joined me. We left the village of Gizilaghaj and came to Nikolayevka, surrounded by the Tatar Cavalry Regiment led by Teymur bey (Bayramalibeyov). Although Teymur bey wanted to disarm us, we did not surrender our weapons and turned away from Nikolayevka. However, as Colonel (of the former Russian Imperial Army) Ilyashevich's troops came to help us, we returned with the revolutionary spirited volunteers and destroyed the Tatar Cavalry Regiment around the village of Nikolayevka.[36] As a result of attacks by military “volunteers” from Baku and Russian units in Mughan, forces of the Tatar Cavalry Regiment were forced to withdraw, and on April 13, the city of Lankaran came under the control of these mixed Russian-Armenian troops. Then a bloodier phase of events, accompanied by killings in the suburban villages, began.

After the fall of Lankaran, these mixed Russian-Armenian troops attacked in the direction of Astara. Petrov, an artillery soldier who was sent to Lankaran from the Baku front, notes that “first, Shakhramanov's unit began fighting in the direction of Astara. In May, we took Shahaghaj under the leadership of Lozov and Astara under the leadership Kholodov, and we were staying in the Khan's house in Astara. Then we took Kakalos and attacked Pensar, but we could not stay there long and returned to Kakalos. The second artillery soldier, my comrade, was Kasparov. He died in battle.”[37]  Aran Sarkisov, Garegin Safaryan, Karapet Miskaryan, Levon Mirumov Kochetkov, Malinovski… and others were distinguished in the Astara operation. After Astara Osipov's unit took Archivan and remained there until the end of September.[38] Korotkov, who was sent from the Turkish front (Eastern front of the Russian Imperial Army during the WWI) to Lankaran, acknowledged that there were heavy battles in the direction of Astara, Alasha and Pirasora. He noted, the comissar came from Lankaran and brought us additional 40 people and said, “You sailors are now enough to capture the stars in the sky”.  Then we attacked Pirasora, but could not take it. We had information that the Turks in Ardabil were trying to help the Turks attacking Baku, and we should have prevented it.[39] 

Pominov writes in his memoirs that the units of Faykovsky and Shevkunov, both of whom came to Lankaran with revolutionary ideas, were “engaged in plundering the Turkic villages around Lankaran. Thus, they were arrested at the request of the Extraordinary Commissar Israfilbeyov.”[40] Osipov, the leader of Astara unit, did his best to humiliate the local population. According to Zakharian's testimony, Osipov " forced a religious Turk to shave his beard at gunpoint (Zakharian and others did not know the local conditions and ethnic composition of the population , but it is known that most of the population in Astara was ethnic Talysh- J.H.), and this action caused the natural rage of the Turks population against us. Shaving a pious Turk's beard was even worse than cutting off his head. Such things are fueled by ethnic hatred.”[41]  Sidomonov said about the atrocities of Sevkinov's unit that the latter, who terrorized the Turkic population, shot Turks in its own special barracks. He added that “when I looked at the barracks of the Shevkunov's unit, I saw that the walls were covered with bullet holes”.[42] The struggle for power among the various forces in Lankaran was so intense that at times small “governments” were fighting against one another in every neighborhood of the city.   

To be continued

First part.