Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

For centuries, Armenian nationalists have committed crimes of ethnic cleansing, deportation and genocide against our people. One of the worst tragedies that befell the Azerbaijani people was the massacres and acts of vandalism committed by the Armenian-Dashnak armed groups in March-April 1918 in Baku, other cities and towns of the Baku province, Karabakh, Zangezur, Nakhchivan, Shirvan, Irevan and other regions. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed with particular cruelty because of their ethnic and religious affiliation, and cultural monuments, historic buildings and mosques were destroyed.

After the establishment of the Azerbaijan People Republic, on July 15, 1918, the Council of Ministers decided to establish an Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry to investigate this tragedy. The commission investigated the March genocide - atrocities in Shamakhi, serious crimes committed by Armenians in the territory of Yerevan province. A special body has been created under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring these realities to the world community. The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan declared March 31 as a day of national mourning. Thus, for the first time in history, an attempt was made to give a political assessment of the genocide against Azerbaijanis and the occupation of our lands, which lasted more than a century. However, after the collapse of the Republic, work begun in this area remained unfinished.

The genocide committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis was repeated at the end of the twentieth century. In February 1992, the Armenians committed an unprecedented massacre in Khojaly. This bloody tragedy led to the destruction, capture of thousands of Azerbaijanis and the destruction of cities. As a result of the adventurous actions of the Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, more than one million of our compatriots were expelled from their native lands. Thousands of our citizens fell martyrs during the occupation of 20 percent of our territory by the Armenian armed forces.

After the restoration of state independence of Azerbaijan, it became possible to present an objective picture of the historical past of our people. The realities that have been kept secret for many years are now being revealed one after another. Political and legal assessment of the genocide By the decree of the national leader Heydar Aliyev “On the genocide of Azerbaijanis” dated March 26, 1998 gave impetus to research in this area and intensified efforts to uncover the truth. To mark all the tragedies of genocide committed against the Azerbaijani people, March 31 was declared the day of genocide of Azerbaijanis.

Thanks to the research carried out in recent years by the historical decree of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, many new facts and documents were collected, and a mass grave was discovered in Guba. Revealed historical facts indicate that the geography of the bloody actions of Armenian nationalists in March-April 1918 and later was wider, and the number of victims of the tragedy was many times higher.

According to the Decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev on January 28, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the 1918 genocide of Azerbaijanis was widely celebrated not only in Azerbaijan, but also by our compatriots, diaspora organizations and embassies abroad.

Although the atrocities of Armenians are a bloody page in the history of Azerbaijan, strong Azerbaijan is always able to successfully cope with all the problems in the region.

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