Azerbaijan hopes 1918 March Genocide to receive int'l legal assessment
By Nazrin Gadimova
The Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis will be commemorated on March 31. The date reflects the memory of the bloody and tragic events of Azerbaijan's history that occurred in the early 20th century.
Elmira Suleymanova, Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Commissioner has issued a statement in connection with the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, voicing hope that the March massacre of 1918 will receive an international legal assessment as an act of genocide.
In early 20th century, the Azerbaijani people faced severe challenges as a result of the deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing, genocide and deportation that have been carried out in the last two centuries by the Armenian nationalists and their supporters.
The policy of genocide and deportation even more intensified in 1918-20s, when Armenians destroyed hundreds of towns and villages, including 150 Azerbaijani villages in Karabakh. As a result of purposeful ethnic cleanings more than 700,000 Azerbaijanis, including 30,000 Baku residents were brutally murdered. However, after almost 100 years had elapsed after this bloody tragedy, it has not received an international legal assessment as an act of genocide, Suleymanova said .
The ombudsman believes that human rights were grossly violated during this genocide.
“We hope that the world community, international organizations will support the just demands of Azerbaijan that this is a brutal crime committed against humanity. We hope that this genocide will receive an international legal assessment as an act of genocide and the culprits will be punished,” the statement reads. “We believe that justice will prevail soon, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored, the violated rights of refugees and internally displaced persons will be ensured.”
The document was sent to the UN Secretary General, UN Security Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Human Rights Council, European Commission, OSCE, Council of Europe, international and European ombudsman institutes, Asian Ombudsman Association, International Peace Bureau, ombudsmen of various countries, Azerbaijan’s embassies in other countries and embassies of other countries in Azerbaijan and representative offices of Azerbaijani diaspora organizations.
During March-April 1918, hundreds of Azerbaijanis were executed by Armenians in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Mughan and tens of thousands of people were expelled from their lands.
Armenian Bolshevik troops led by Stepan Shaumyan massacred thousands of people, burnt Islamic shrines and confiscated the 400-million-manat estate of Baku residents. Tezepir Mosque was bombed, and one of the magnificent architectural buildings, Ismailiyyeh, was burnt down.
The genocide policy pursued against Azerbaijanis was not limited to Baku. Armenian dashnaks killed 8,027 Azerbaijanis, including 2,560 women and 1,277 children, in 53 villages of Shamakhy, 110 km west of Baku, on March 31. Also, 16,000 Azerbaijanis were murdered in 122 villages of Guba, northern Azerbaijan.
The evidence of the Armenian vandalism in Guba is the burial of remains of the genocide victims. The burial was discovered during the construction of a stadium in Guba in 2007.
The Special Investigation Commission set up by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on July 15, 1918 collected a great number of documents and submitted them to the government. In 1919, the Azerbaijani Parliament made a decision on marking March 31 as the day of Azerbaijanis' genocide.
Though this date was essentially forgotten during the Soviet times, relevant investigations on the tragedy were carried out and books were published after Azerbaijan gained independence from the USSR in 1991.
President Heydar Aliyev issued a decree on March 26, 1998 to commemorate March 31 as the Day of Azerbaijanis' Genocide.
--
Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz