March 31 – genocide of Azerbaijanis

Throughout the 20th century Azerbaijanis have repeatedly been subject to extermination and persecution on part of Armenians. Facts of eradication of Azerbaijanis and joining of Azeri lands to Armenia were concealed for years, while those who exposed them were labeled as nationalist bigots and severely punished by the law-enforcement.

On March 26, 1998, President Aliyev issued an edict “On genocide of Azerbaijanis”, the first document to give political and legal assessment to the atrocities perpetrated by Armenians in the name of their “great Armenia” obsession.

At the dawn of the 20th century, in 1905-1907, Armenians unleashed genocide first in Baku and then in other regions of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus. Renowned Azeri writers M. S. Ordubadi and M. M. Navvab, in their books “Bloody years” and “Armenian-Muslim war of 1905-1906”, gave a detailed account of the genocide of Azerbaijanis in those years. Even more appalling were the developments of 1918, as Armenians brutally slaughtered Azeris in Baku, Guba, Shamakhi, Ganja, Nakhchivan, Garabagh, Zangazur, Iravan, etc. According to some data, several hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of villages looted and destroyed.

In late March-early April 1918, as a result of an unprecedented massacre spearheaded by Armenian Bolsheviks, more than 15,000 innocent people were gunned down in Baku and adjacent villages. In 1919-1920, March 31 was marked by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the Day of Prayer.

In July 1918, after the take-over of the territory of Nakhchivan, Dashnak Andranik started impoverishing and looting Azeri-populated villages in Goycha and Zangazur and slaying peaceful population. The barbaric actions were led by the Bolshevik Dashnak Stepan Shaumian.

In the Soviet times, Armenians pushed ahead with their anti-Azerbaijan policy. In 1920-1930s, as well as in post-war years, Armenians contributed to the arrest and exile of Azeris to Siberia, their being executed as traitors of the nation, extermination of religious figures and renowned intellectuals, and repression of other innocent people.

During the developments of 1988, after the issue of joining Upper Garabagh to Armenia emerged, several hundred thousands were ousted from Azeri lands and more than 400 brutally slain. As a result of the occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan’s land, the number of refugees from Armenia, a country with not a single Azerbaijani remaining, and from Upper and Lower Garabagh, exceeded 1 million.

In 1992, Armenian thugs committed an unprecedented Khojali genocide, as hundreds of innocent people were savagely murdered, women, children and old people taken hostage.

On the eve of the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, President Aliyev said in a nationwide address, “The genocide has inflicted a serious political, economic and moral blow upon Azerbaijan. In general, the consequences of the policy of deportation and genocide have affected around 2 million Azerbaijanis”.

On Friday, the Milli Mejlis adopted an address to international organizations and governments of the world, saying that in March 1918 Armenians unleashed hideous genocide to tens of thousands of Azerbaijan, which, however, has failed to attract the attention of the world community.*