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After the bloody March events of 1918, in order to expand Soviet power, D. Genovanini was sent to Guba area. The people of Guba were aware of the bloody clashes in Baku and Shamakha and the violence by the Armenian Dashnaks towards the Muslim population of the cities and villages of these areas. In case of failure to accept the ultimatum, given by Gelovani about recognition and submission of Soviet power, the whole city was exposed to danger.
The population of Guba, having obeyed the ultimatum, lived under Soviet rule for 8 days. On the 9th day of Soviet power, armed attacks by local residents began in Guba. In support of Gelovani, a military force with two guns, consisting of 150 Armenians led by Agaanian, arrived from Khachmaz. After three days of intense fighting, local groups expelled the first Bolshevik “team” from Guba/
Outstanding figures of the Guba community – Ali Bey Zizikski, Hamdullah Efendi Efendizade, Aliabbas bey Alibekov, from the Shihlar Beks – Mursal bek and Ibrahim bek, Mohubeli Efendi Kuzunlu, Khatam agha Jagarvi, Baibala bek Alpanly and others established special cavalry units to defend Guba area.
In response to these incidents, on May 1, 1918, under the command of Hamazasp, 3,000 Armenian troops invaded Guba from three sides and began to shoot with cannons, machine guns and rifles. Together with the Azerbaijani population, representatives of ethnic groups and Jews living in the area were brutally killed. There was no doubt that the main goal of Hamazasp was not to create a new government, but to fulfill its mission of punishment. Hamazasp personally gathered people in front of the Juma mosque and addressed them in the following speech: “I come from Erzurum. I fought the Turks a long time ago. I am a hero of the Armenian people and a defender of their interests… I am not here to set rules and establish Soviet power, but to avenge the killed Armenians. “
According to the investigation by the Extraordinary Investigation Commition, the cases of violence in Guba and the villages of Guba are reflected in the compendium and consist of 451 pages in three toms. As a result, in April-May 1918, the Hamazasp gang in Guba burned and plundered 167 villages, the number of killed people in Guba area was about 16 thousand people, and the material damage caused to the population was more than 121,824,819 rubles..

The Shamakhi genocide occupies a special place among the criminal acts committed by the Armenian nationalists in 1918, who wanted to create a “Greater Armenia” state in Azerbaijan, in terms of its scale, number of victims and the amount of material and moral damage. In Shamakhi district, the Armenian Dashnaks led by S. Lalayan and T. Amirov brutally killed the Muslim population. Armenian and Molokan soldiers break into Muslim homes, take valuables and money from frightened people, and then kill their entire families.Also, by the order of S. Lalayan, Armenian soldiers burned alive the residents of the city who took refuge in 12 neighborhood mosques of the city, as well as the Juma Mosque, which dates back to the VIII century. The violence and looting continued for four days, until Azerbaijani troops came to the aid of Shamakhi Muslims from Ganja and entered the city. During the two-time genocide of Azerbaijanis in Shamakhi, between 8,000 and 10,000 people out of the city’s 21,127 Muslims were killed, and the rest were displaced to various cities and districts of Azerbaijan. In addition to residential areas and mosques, all public buildings, markets, hundreds of shops, warehouses, mills and other civilian objects in the city were burned and completely destroyed. The genocide in Shamakhi lasted until mid-July 1918, when it was liberated by Turkish-Azerbaijani troops.During that period, 106 villages of Shamakhi district were burned and destroyed, and residents of 110 villages suffered from attacks by Armenian-Molokan gangs.The total number of those killed during the attacks and in captivity was 10,341, including 4,359 women and children. Thousands of wandered refugees in the mountains, forests and plains for months, have died of cold, hunger and disease. The total amount of material damage inflicted on the residents of Muslim villages of Shamakhi district amounted to 607,167,420 rubles. The main difference between the genocide in Shemakhi and the genocides in other regions of Azerbaijan is the active participation of the Molokan-Russian population in these events along with the Armenians. The documents of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission on the Shamakhi genocide totaled 22 volumes of investigative material and 63 photographs. These documents allow us to know the scale of the full picture of the 1918 Shamakhi tragedy.  

Mənbə:

1. Рустамова-Тогиди <ШЕМАХА. Март-июль 1918г Азербайджанские погромы в документах>. Том 1. Город Шемаха. Баку, 2013, 880 стр. с фотографиями
2. Azərbaycan tarixi, 7 cilddə, V cild, (1900 – 27 fevral – 1920)
3. Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyətinin Ensiklopediyası. 2 cilddə, I cild, B., Lider nəşriyyatı, 2004, 439 s.
4. Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyətinin Ensiklopediyası. 2 cilddə, II cild, B., Lider nəşriyyatı, 2004, 469 s.
5. Abışov V. Azərbaycanlıların soyqırımı, 1918-1920-ci illər, Bakı (B.): Qartal, 2001, 174 s.
6. Paşayev A. Açılmamış səhifələrin izi ilə. B.: Azərbaycan, 2001, 535 s.

At the end of 1917 – early 1918,in Baku had opened struggle by the Dashnak-Bolshevik forces against the national forces. On December 1917,the arrival of the Military Revolutionary Committee headed by S. Shaumyan, appointed by the Chairman of the Russian People’s Commissars Soviet from Tbilisi to Baku exacerbated the political situation. Red Army which was at the disposal of the Baku Council, was comprised of 20,000 armed forces, mostly Armenians. In March 1918 the political situation in Baku was very tense. Musavat, the strongest political party in the South Caucasus, was striving for Azerbaijan’s territorial autonomy.The Bolshevik forces, headed by Shaumyan, in cooperation with the Armenian National Council and the Dashnaktsutyun party, began a real war against Musavat. Disarmament of 48 officers and soldiers of the 48th Muslim division on the Evelina ship from Lankaran to Baku on March 27, 1918 was an excuse for the bloody clashes in Baku.On March 30, 1918, non-organized protest rallies began in different parts of the city.The city’s central and all Muslim neighborhoods have been subjected to armed attacks by Bolshevik-Armenian units, bombardment from airplanes, and continuous firing from the ships from the Caspian Fleet.On March, all sections of Azerbaijani population in Baku became victims of Armenian violence and looting.All efforts made by the Azerbaijani national elites and political forces to prevent further escalation of tension in the city have ultimately been ineffective. According to the documents of the Extraordinary Investigation Comission, during the March massacre in 1918, in Baku and surrounding villages (Mohammadi, Ahmadli, Balakhani, Binagadi, Bibi-Heybat, Hokimli, Zabrat, Sabunchu, Ramana, Khirdalan, etc.) 12000 Muslims were the victims of the atrocities of the Armenian armed groups. In the tragic March of 1918, the amount of material damage inflicted on the city’s Muslim population was estimated at 400,000,000 rubles. The burned and destroyed buildings included the “Ismailia” (the building of Muslim Charity Association), the “Kaspi” newspaper, the Dagestan, Alexandria and Islamiya hotels. These Muslim hotels and caravanserai were burned with the people inside.

Chairman of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission Alakbar bey Hasmammadov was a member of the Central Committee of the Difai Party, the Ganja Muslim Charity and the Ganja Muslim National Committee. He was appointed chairman of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission established by the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan on July 15, 1918, and under his leadership, the EIC collected 36 volumes – 3,500 pages of investigative materials from 15 July 1918 to 01 November 1919. Six volumes of investigative materials reflect the genocide committed by the Armenians against the Muslim population in Baku, and a collection of 451 pages and 3-volume documents on violence in Guba region. Other volumes of investigative material refer to cruel crimes committed by Armenians in Shamakhi, Goychay, Javad, Nukha, Ganja, Karabakh and Zangezur.
On January 6, 1919, the chairman of the Extraordinary Investigation Comission , Alakbar bey Hasmammadov, sent documents to the Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding the genocide to be sent to the Paris Peace Conference. On January 11, 1920, in connection with the de-facto recognition of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic by Antanta, on decision of the Parliament of the Republic of February 9, crimes commited on the grounds of hostility, was terminated and the investigation was suspended.
Generally, the materials collected by the EİC under the leadership of Alekber bey Hasmammadov until April 1920, as well as testimonies, are historical records that reveal the crimes of Dashnaks and Bolsheviks. Referring to these documents, the March 31, was declared by the ADR as a national mourning day in 1919 and 1920.

The government of Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (ADR) considered it necessary to express its attitude towards the bloody the Republic exposed. The government adopted a solution on establishment of Extraordinary Investigation Commission on 15 July, 1918 to investigate into the cases of violence committed against Muslim population and property by Armenian armed groups under the name of Bolshevik. The chairman of the EIC was known lawyer Alakbar bey Khasmammadov. Though the commission was set up of seven members, later the representatives of the investigation and prosecutor’s office and judicial authorities of Baku and Ganja cities were implicated to this work. The composition of the EIC was multinational and mainly included Polish, Russian, German, Lithuanian Tatars and Azerbaijani lawyers studying in Russia. 36 volumes of investigative materials were collected by the EIC during the activity period of 15 July, 1918 up to 1 November, 1919. Massacres committed in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Goychay, Javad, Nukha and Lankaran provinces, as well as in Ganja, Garabagh and Zangazur by Armenians were investigated. As a result of EIC activities, 128 reports and draft resolutions were worked up and criminal cases were instituted on their basis against 194 people, charged of various crimes.

  In 1851 a wooden bridge was erected on Kudyalchay. But, this bridge was short-lived and was restored in 1894. It is included in the list of state-protected monuments as an architectural monument.  The archival photo of the legendary bridge from the early part of the century is in the first section of the museum at the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex. This monument is a bridge that connects the city of Guba and the Red Settlement. It has been used by local and mountain Jewish people for centuries. The Arched Bridge is also a historical monument related to the events in Guba. Thus, the Armenian vandals coming to Guba were resisted by the locals in the area nowadays known as “40 steps” near the Arched Bridge.