Azerbaijanis pay visit to Guba burial to honor Genocide victims

/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijani publish commemorates March 31 – the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, committed by Armenians back in 1918.

Thousands of Azerbaijanis visit a genocide memorial that was built in the northeastern town of Guba to honor victims of massacres committed in the area by Armenian and Bolshevik forces.

The Guba burial site of genocide victims was found during excavations on 1 April 2007. In 2009, there was decided to create a memorial and conduct landscaping and improvement on the site of the mass graves. Later, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography began extensive research on the mass grave, which was completed in September 2008.

The research has established that the burial has to do with the genocide committed by the Armenians against the local civilian population in 1918.

The complex established with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation includes a museum containing pictures and archive documents about life in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Javad and Goychay between March and July 1918.

In 1918, the Armenian gangs committed an act of genocide against the civilian population almost on the entre territory of Azerbaijan. More than 50,000 of Azerbaijani citizens became victims of Armenian fascism in a matter of five months.

Azerbaijanis were exposed to genocide in Baku, the Guba province, Shamakhi, Gusar, Erivan, Nakhchivan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Lankaran and practically on all Azerbaijani lands.

In 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic established a special investigation commission. The commission began to operate, but after the collapse of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1920, it naturally ceased to exist.

Though this date was essentially forgotten during the Soviet times, relevant investigations on the tragedy were carried out and books were published after Azerbaijan gained independence from the USSR in 1991.

President Heydar Aliyev issued a decree on March 26, 1998 to commemorate March 31 as the Day of Azerbaijanis' Genocide.