Baku, Azerbaijan, March 29
Trend:
At certain stages of history, Armenian nationalists committed ethnic cleansing, deportation and genocide against the Turkic-Muslim population of the region in order to realize the mythical idea of the “Great Armenia”, Ismayil Akhundov, secretary of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People of Azerbaijan and head of the working group, said.
He made the remarks at the international scientific conference, titled “The 100th Anniversary of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis in 1918. The Policy of Genocide, Military Aggression and Ethnic Cleansing in Modern Times”, in Baku March 29.
Akhundov noted that one of the most horrific tragedies is the massacre of Azerbaijanis, committed 100 years ago with special cruelty by the Dashnak-Bolshevik armed groups operating under the mandate of the Baku Council.
“In those days, tens of thousands of civilians were killed precisely due to ethnic and religious affiliation, settlements, cultural monuments, mosques and cemeteries were demolished and destroyed in Baku, as well as in other cities and districts belonging to the Baku province. Committed in 1918, the genocide against the Azerbaijani-Turkic population was not limited to the territory of Azerbaijan, in general, these events covered peaceful Muslim peoples living in the South Caucasus, Turkey and Iran,” Akhundov added.
He emphasized that thanks to the investigations conducted over the past 20 years, numerous facts and documents were collected, mass graves were found in Azerbaijani city of Guba.
“The revealed historical facts proved that the geography of bloody actions committed by Armenian nationalists in March-April 1918 and in subsequent periods is wider, and the victims of tragedies are much bigger. Both in the beginning and at the end of the 20th century, Armenian terrorist detachments and Armenian servicemen continued the policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Azerbaijani people,” Akhundov added.
The genocide against Azerbaijanis was committed with special cruelty in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba counties, Karabakh, Zangazur, Nakhchivan, Lankaran and other districts of Azerbaijan.
Massacres of civilians were committed in these territories, settlements were burnt and wiped off the face of the earth, and monuments of national culture were destroyed.