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The Guba district included the present-day Guba, Gusar, Shabran, Khachmaz, and Siyazan districts. The center of the area was the city of Guba. This territorial division existed in Tsarist Russia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and the Azerbaijan SSR until 1929.

The 1916 statistical data “Tifliskiye Vedomosti” show the national composition of Guba district as follows:

Of the total 198,204 people of Quba area, 64.15% were Azerbaijanis and Tatars, 24.72% were Lezghins, Kyrgyz, Buduks, Czechs, Avars, etc., 7.58% were Jews and 2.71% were Russians. , 0.78% were others.

The section shows a map of Guba district compiled during the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.On that map, the villages that were subjected to genocide in 1918 are marked with special red labels.167 villages were exposed to massacre. 38 villages were destroyed in Guba , 27 in Gusar, 65 in Khachmaz, 21 in Shabran and 16 in Siyazan

We present to you a section of the Museum of the Genocide Memorial Complex, which contains a brief description of the facts of the genocide committed in Guba in 1918 and photos of eyewitnesses of these events and interrogative protocols. The collection of 36 volumes and 3,500 pages of investigative materials by the Extraordinary Investigation Commission between July 15, 1918 and November 1, 1919 also reflected the genocide committed in Guba.Andrei Fomich Novatsky, a member of the Extraordinary İnvestigation Commission , conducted made a research on the crimes associated with the massacre of the Muslim population in the Guba area onApril and May 1918. Based on the collected documents, it was found out that 167 villages were burned and looted in Guba district, and the number of people killed in Guba district was more than 16,000. The material damage to the local population amounted to more than 121,824,819 rubles.

There are photos and interrogative protocols of Haji Ismayil Orujov (55 years old), Durna Mashadi Dadash gizi, Haji Hidayat Musa oglu (60 years old), Mashadi Ibad Bagirov (45 years old), Mammad Ali Kabalai Irza oglu (40 years old), who testified as witnesses.

On June 14, 1918, Goychay was subjected to a strong attack by the Armenian army, acting under the name “Bolshevik army”. The Armenian gangs that broke the resistance of the residents of the village of Kurdamir, Goychay area, committed a brutal massacre here. As a result, 56 houses and shops, 127 properties, 2 mosques were completely burned, all other houses and objects were destroyed and looted. The complete destruction of the station or village of Kurdemir, as well as the destruction of the rest of the population was prevented by the Russians, consisting of the Red Army and Iranian (southern Azerbaijanis) workers, partially cooperating with the Bolsheviks.            The EIC documents provide evidence of “relations between the Armenians and the Russian and Azerbaijani Bolsheviks,” local conflicts to put an end to the national killings in Kurdemir, even reports of the execution of several Armenian soldiers. In addition to Kurdamir, Armenian attacks were also carried out on the villages of Jayli, Garavalla, Karabuchak, Mustafali, Khalil-Gasymbay, Arab-Mehdibeyli, Dadali and other villages of Goychay area and were accompanied by the killing of the population. For example, in the village of Arab-Mehdibeyli 84 houses were destroyed and 83 people were killed, including 78 men, 4 women and one boy. The battle between the Baku Soviet Army and the Caucasus Islamic Army in the summer of 1918 in the area of Karamariam village of Geichai County changed for the benefit of the Azeris and laid the foundation for the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from the enemy.  

Photographs of Alibay Zizikski, Hamdulla Efendi Efendizade, Aliabbas bey Alibeyov, Mursal bey and Ibrahim bey, Mohubali Efendi Kuzunlu, Hatam aga Jagarvi, Beybala bey Alpanli and other prominent figures of the Guba community who fought bravely against Dashnak Hamazasp, who had a special hatred for Turkish-Muslims and were instructed by the head of Baku Soviet Stepan Shaumyan and 3,000 Armenian gangs led by him, committed ruthless murders and robberies in April-May 1918, are presented to the visitors in the “Defenders of Guba district” section of the museum

            In addition, the exposition shows the so-called “Bloody Valley” between the villages of Digah and Khujbala, where the defense forces of the Guba region fought fiercely against the Dashnak-Armenians. There is also, a copy of the document signed by 90 Armenians of Kilvar village of Devechi (Shabran) on the protection of their lives, property and safety and not causing any damage to them.

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.  

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.