Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 29/ Trend , E. Rustamov/
Azerbaijani historians argue about the remains of the 26 Baku commissars on Sahil Square.
The Baku City Administration recently decided to dismantle the monument due to repairs on the square and construct a parking lot. The excavations uncovered the remains of 23 as opposed to 26 individuals.
"Media reports claiming that the remains do not belong to the 26 commissars are nonsense," Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences Historical Institute Director and member of parliament Yagub Mahmudov told Trend .
"I participated in the excavations. The remains were pulled up from under the monument and reburied. I saw 23 bodies. The age of the buried varied from 20 to 50," Mahmudov said.
According to Soviet historiography, an English expeditionary corps in Turkmenistan shot 26 Baku commissars who briefly ruled the Council of People's Commissars on Sept. 20, 1918. Their remains were brought to Azerbaijan and reburied in Baku in 1920.
Mahmudov said it was discovered that the deceased were shot by two types of firearms, which prove that the bodies belong to the 26 Baku Commissars.
"Some people say it is impossible to determine to whom the dead bodies on Sahil Square belong. Then why do anthropology and forensic medical examinations exist? If one can determine Napoleon's dead body from a single hair, then we can also determine to whom these remains belong," Mahmudov said.
He said no one knew only 23 people were buried in the square.
"We wonder who the three people were who destroyed our nation, plundered our property and ran away," Mahmudov said.
Azerbaijani scientist and historian Eldar Ismayilov said the remains under the monument may not belong to the 26 Baku commissars.
"No one can say the remains belong to the 26 Baku commissars as they were reburied two years after they were shot. It is difficult to say in what state the bodies were at that time," Ismayilov said.
Ismayilov said other people were also shot with the commissars as a civil war was going on at that time.
Ismayilov said claims that one of the 26 commissars, Shaumyan, survived and moved to India are unreasonable.
"Why would Shaumyan go to India? If he had been alive, he would have assumed a leading position in the Soviet Union," Ismayilov said.
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