Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora of the United States have launched a campaign disposing the Armenian atrocities and ethnic cleansing committed against Azerbaijanis in the early 20th century. The two communities have sent an appeal to the US Congress condemning the atrocities of 1918, ahead of March 31, the Remembrance Day of Azerbaijanis.

The letter noted that thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis were slain during the massacre, which was embedded in history as "the March developments".

"The truth is that the Armenians, acting under the guise of Bolshevism, attacked Muslims, killing over several days 12,000 people, most of whom were the elderly, women and children," the appeal said.

The American Azerbaijanis noted that about a million Azerbaijanis were killed in the 20th century in the aftermath of the Armenian policy of genocide.

"A total of 2.5 million Azerbaijanis, Turks, Kurds, Jews, Georgians, Tats, Talyshes, and Lezgins fell victim of the Armenians’ policy of ethnic cleansing aiming to establish a state stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian and the Mediterranean seas," the appeal said.

The massacre was unleashed by the Baku Soviet (city executive power in the Soviet times) and Armenian Dashnaks (nationalists) in Baku and Ganja, as well as in Shamakhy, Guba, Neftchala and Kurdamir regions, between March 30 and April 3, 1918. According to official sources, about 700,000 Azerbaijanis were brutally killed, including some 30,000 people slain in Baku, and tens of thousands went missing.