From the early 18th century onward, Armenian nationalists pursued a policy of genocide against the Azerbaijani people. During this period, Tsarist Russia, expanding its influence into the South Caucasus, used Armenians as a tool, encouraging them with promises of establishing an Armenian national state in the region.
A decree issued on November 10, 1724, in the name of Peter I called for the creation of favorable conditions for the resettlement of Armenians in newly occupied territories, including Baku and other areas. Seizing this opportunity, Armenians advanced their insidious agenda, committing massacres against Azerbaijanis across various regions in an effort to establish an Armenian state on Azerbaijan’s historic lands. As a result of this systematic and deliberate genocidal policy, thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis were brutally killed, their homes burned, and their property looted.
It is noteworthy that although Armenians were a minority in the territories where they were resettled, they managed—with the backing of their patrons—to establish their own administrative structures. This laid the groundwork for a policy of expelling and annihilating Azerbaijanis from their ancestral lands.
To legitimize the fabricated concept of a “Greater Armenia,” Armenian history was falsified and Azerbaijan’s history distorted. In the 20th century, Armenian aggressors, emboldened by such artificial ambitions, committed even more brutal acts of violence against Azerbaijanis. The atrocities that began in Baku soon spread across the entire territory of Azerbaijan, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of settlements destroyed. The first large-scale massacres of the 20th century, driven by the “Greater Armenia” illusion, occurred between 1905 and 1907, when thousands of Azerbaijanis were mercilessly killed in Baku, Nakhchivan, Zangezur, Iravan, and other historic Azerbaijani lands.
Between December 1917 and March 1918, Armenian armed units under the leadership of Andranik actively participated in the destruction of Azerbaijani villages. In the Iravan district, 32 villages were destroyed; in the Echmiadzin district, 84; and in the Nor-Bayazid district, 7—bringing the total to 197 villages. Many residents were killed, while others were displaced, their property looted and homes razed.
Armenians also sought to realize their ambitions under the banner of Bolshevism. In March 1918, Stepan Shaumyan was appointed Extraordinary Commissar for the Caucasus and sent to Baku. From that point on, under the slogan of “fighting counter-revolutionary elements,” the Baku Commune, led by Shaumyan and supported by Dashnak-Bolshevik forces, initiated a plan to cleanse Baku of its Azerbaijani population.
When discussing the genocide against Azerbaijanis, particular attention is given to the massacres carried out in March 1918 in Baku, Shamakhi, Quba, Goychay, Kurdamir, Salyan, Lankaran, and other regions. Between March 30 and April 3, 1918, armed Armenian units affiliated with the Baku Soviet and the Dashnaktsutyun party committed mass killings of Azerbaijanis in Baku and across various regions, including Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Shamakhi, Quba, Khachmaz, Lankaran, Salyan, and Zangezur. According to official sources, nearly 12,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, tens of thousands went missing, and settlements, historical monuments, mosques, and cemeteries were destroyed.
Beginning on March 31, 1918, mass killings of Azerbaijanis in Baku intensified. Approximately 6,000 armed soldiers of the Baku Soviet and 4,000 armed members of Dashnaktsutyun took part in the massacres. Over three days, Armenian armed groups, with Bolshevik support, launched sudden attacks on Azerbaijani neighborhoods, killing indiscriminately—men, women, and children alike. In 1925, a German witness named Kulner described the events, stating that Armenians entered Muslim (Azerbaijani) neighborhoods, killing everyone, mutilating bodies, and committing extreme acts of brutality without sparing children or the elderly.
Following the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, special attention was given to investigating the March events. On July 15, 1918, the Council of Ministers created an Extraordinary Investigation Commission. According to its findings, Armenian armed groups killed up to 8,000 civilians in Shamakhi alone. Entire villages were destroyed in various districts, including Jabrayil and Javanshir. Near Gyumri, a convoy of 3,000 Azerbaijanis—mostly women, children, and the elderly—was ambushed and completely annihilated.
In Zangezur, 115 Azerbaijani villages were destroyed, over 10,000 Azerbaijanis were killed or wounded, and 50,000 were displaced. In the Iravan province, 135,000 Azerbaijanis living in 199 villages were killed, and the villages were razed. Between 1918 and 1920, Armenian armed groups also destroyed 150 villages in the mountainous part of Karabakh. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declared March 31 a national day of mourning in 1919 and 1920.
The systematic study and international recognition of these tragic events were later advanced under the initiative of national leader Heydar Aliyev. By a decree dated March 26, 1998, March 31 was officially declared the “Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.” Since then, significant efforts have been made to research this tragedy, publish findings, and translate materials into foreign languages.
One of the most tragic episodes of this genocide is the mass grave discovered in Quba on April 1, 2007, during excavation work. Investigations revealed that in April–May 1918 alone, 167 villages in the Quba district were completely destroyed. In 2009, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a plan to commemorate the victims, leading to the construction of a memorial complex at the site. On September 18, 2013, the Quba Genocide Memorial Complex was officially opened. Research has shown that along with Azerbaijanis, representatives of other ethnic groups living in the region—such as Lezgis, Jews, Tats, and others—were also brutally killed and buried in the mass grave.
On January 18, 2018, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree marking the 100th anniversary of the 1918 genocide of Azerbaijanis. In accordance with the decree, the centenary was widely commemorated not only in Azerbaijan but also by Azerbaijani diaspora organizations and embassies worldwide. Articles and materials were published in the media to raise international awareness of the crimes committed by Armenian-Bolshevik armed groups against Azerbaijanis.
