31 March the day of genocide of Azerbaijanis
98 years ago the Armenian nationalists with assistance of Bolsheviks began genocide of Azerbaijanians in Baku and its vicinities. Bloody events shortly have spread on all Azerbaijan territory. In March-April, 1918 in Baku, Shamakha, Guba, on Mugani, in Lankaran Armenians killed over 50 thousand Azerbaijanians, plundered their houses, expelled tens of thousands of people from native places. Only in Baku about 30 thousand Azerbaijanians were killed with special ruthlessness, in the Shamakhi district 58 villages are destroyed, about 7 thousand people, including 1653 women and 965 children are killed. Were destroyed 122 Muslim villages in the Guba. More than 150 Azerbaijani villages in mountain part of Karabakh and 115 villages in Zangezur were barbarous destroyed. Against population, without distinction to gender and age, the most severe violence were used. 211 Azerbaijani villages in the Irivan province, 92 – in Kars area were destroyed, burned and ruined.
The Decree signed by the National Leader of Azerbaijan Haydar Aliyev on “Genocide against Azerbaijanis” dated 26 March 1998, provided political recognition to these events and for the first time officially declared the fact of the genocide against Azerbaijanis committed by Armenians. Every year, on March 31, in Azerbaijan and beyond its borders are held the events devoted to memory of the victims of genocide of Azerbaijanians.
The collective of ‘SOCAR Petroleum’ CJSC bow before memory of the victims of genocide, and expresses the confidence that thanks to strong statehood which is possessed now by Azerbaijan, such crimes against our people will not repeated any more.
