Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

President Ilham Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, on September 18 attended the opening of a genocide memorial built in the northeastern town of Guba by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to honor victims of massacres committed in the area by Armenian and Bolshevik forces in 1918.

Tens of thousands of Muslims, as well as local Jews, were killed by joint Armenian and Bolshevik forces in Baku and the regions, including Guba, Shamakhi, Goychay, Karabakh and Lankaran between March and September 1918. Nearly 167 villages were destroyed in Guba region alone.

The memorial complex has been built near a mass grave of some of the victims discovered during construction of a stadium in the town of Guba 2007. The mass grave contains remains of hundreds of victims, including over 50 children and 100 women.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, led by First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, has published books and booklets in three languages, providing detailed information about the massacres.

The memorial complex consists of an entrance and an exit shaped like pointed knives, and a main chamber containing a black stone at the center. The entire complex has been built of concrete and no decoration was used to symbolize grief.

The complex includes a museum containing pictures and archive documents about life in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Javad and Goychay between March and July 1918.

President Aliyev and his wife planted apple trees outside the memorial. Apple is a symbol of the Guba region.

The archive materials put on display at the museum include a picture of a semi-destroyed mosque in the town of Shamakhi. The eighth-century mosque burnt by Armenian militia in 1918 has been fully restored.

President Aliyev said Armenians committed similar crimes against Azerbaijanis just 20 years ago. They destroyed everything, including mosques and other historical monuments in Agdam, Shusha, Fuzuli and other Azerbaijani towns they captured during the 1991-1994 war.

"Those who committed these crimes are now trying to sell themselves as civilized people," Aliyev said, speaking at the opening of the Guba genocide memorial. "But they can only be described as savage people and nothing else."

Aliyev said Armenia is continuing the occupation of Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, in violation of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

"How long will this injustice continue?" Aliyev said. "How many more years will the occupation continue? Our internationally-recognized territory has been under occupation for almost 20 years. Nagorno-Karabakh is an ancient Azerbaijani land. No country in the world questions our country's territorial integrity. All of these questions remain unanswered. We know the answers. We know why the problem is not being resolved. This injustice needs to be ended."

The president warned that Azerbaijan will have to use military force to regain control of its territory should Armenia continues the occupation.

"Today we are strong enough to do that," Aliyev said. "Today Azerbaijan has the mightiest army of the South Caucasus region."

Azerbaijan's national budget is ten times the Armenian state budget. Azerbaijan's military spending exceeds Armenia's overall state budget by 30-50 percent, he said.

"I am absolutely confident that Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity," Aliyev said.