The Turkish Times April 15, 2000 Year 12 No. 252 Azerbaijan Mourns Victims of Genocide 2.5 Mil. Azeris Killed by Armenians in 20th Century Azeri Jews outraged by Armenian efforts to mislead the world public Osman Tat The Turkish Times Washington, D.C. - Azeris commemorated March 31 as the "Day of Genocide Against Azerbaijanis" in solemn memory of the 2.5 million Azeris that fell victim to genocidal policies in the century that we left behind. As a result of Russian imperial policies in the region and waves of Armenian aggression, Azerbaijanis have been repeatedly subjected to mass killings and forced, expulsion. (Back in March 31, 1918 Azeris living in Baku fell victim to a pogrom unleashed by the Armenians.) In 1998, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev issued a decree declaring March 31 the Day of Genocide Against Azerbaijanis in order to commemorate tragic pages of the Azerbaijani history. Following the establishment of the infamous Baku Commune, led by radical Bolsheviks and Armenian nationalists, in March of 1918, the Azerbaijani civilian population was subjected to systematic destruction and annihilation in Baku and other regions of Azerbaijan. However, these genocidal policies neither began, nor ended in 1918., Following the division of Azerbaijani lands in 1814 and 1828 between Persia, and Russia, Armenian nationalists, encouraged by the Russian Empire, have, aspired to create a "Greater Armenia", at the expense of their neighbors, including Azerbaijan. In order to achieve this expansionist goal Armenian nationalists killed and expelled Azerbaijani civilians from their homes both, on territories of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Once a majority in many regions of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijanis, were violently exiled on several occasions, among them the Moscow-sponsored, deportation of nearly hundred thousand people in the late 1940s. Criminal, actions of Armenian radicals renewed when the conflict erupted between, Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh. As a, result of the latest ethnic cleansing in 1988-1989, when the last remaining, Azerbaijani communities were deported, the Armenian nationalists have, reached their goal of ethnically homogenous Armenia. Ethnic cleansing and massacres were continued by the Armenian armed forces outside Armenia, leaving not a single Azerbaijani on the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied since 1992. Today, Azerbaijan has the, highest per capita displaced population in the world. Leaders of Azerbaijan’s Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities issued statements in memory of victims of systematic massacres against, Azerbaijanis. In the statement, they called upon the international community to condemn Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan. Addressing the nation on March 31 this year, President Aliyev said: "Our, common resolve to build an independent state of Azerbaijan is the best, protection against acts of aggression and repetition of the past tragedies." Details of Armenian massacres Azerbaijani state adviser on ethnic issues, Hidayat Orujev, provided the following figures in a recent press conference in Baku: Ten thousand Azeris were annihilated in Irevan guberniya [province of the Russian empire] in 1915 alone, a year which Armenians so often like to recall [for other reasons]. Three thousand Azeris were killed in Gyumri town on 29th April 1918. In the same year, returning from Kars [region in Turkey], Armenian detachments annihilated 221 [Azeri] villages in Irevan guberniya. Detachments of Dashnaks, who were lording it over in Baku, organized pogroms and the mass killings of Azeris in 1918 in 229 villages in Baku guberniya, 272 villages in Gyandzha guberniya, 115 villages in Zangezur [stretch of Azerbaijani land which was given to Armenians in 1920s, thus separating Nakhichevan from the rest of Azerbaijan] and 157 villages in Karabakh. About 565,000 Azeris were killed in Armenia between 1918-1920 alone. About 2.5m Azeris became the victims of the genocide that Armenians committed against Azeris in the 20th century. These figures were given at a press conference held by the Azerbaijani state adviser on ethnic issues, Hidayat Orujev. History invented "By falsifying history, the Armenians were trying to conceal the truth from the world and to portray themselves as innocent victims," Orujev said. "Invented history has been taught in Armenia for decades and the Armenian people themselves are the hostage of myths and lies which ranked as national ideology and propaganda. However, no one in the world, except the Armenians themselves, can save them from this madness," he said. Azeri Jews outraged In a joint statement released for the occasion by the leaders of major Jewish organizations in Azerbaijan, the Armenian effort to portray the Armenians as innocent victims was lambasted. "The Jewish communities of Azerbaijan are appealing to you concerning the tragic date in the fate of our country, the genocide of the Azerbaijani people, which was committed by gangs of the Armenian nationalists headed by the Armenian Revolutionary-Federation Dashnaktsutyun in 1918," said the statement signed by S.B. Ikhiilov, Chairman of the mountainous Jewish community; M.B. Bekker, Chairman of the European Jewish community; and M.Sh. Palagashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Jewish community. "What they failed to complete to the end in the past, Armenians leaders are trying to finish today. The goal is the same: to occupy new lands and to expel millions of Azerbaijanis from their lands," the Jewish leaders said in their statement published on March 31st in the Baku (Russian language) periodical Bakinskiy Rabochiy. "Going through the entire century, the bloody train of the genocide of 1918 entered the 21st century. It is no coincidence that the dirty palaver around the so-called genocide of Armenians is constantly puffed up in parliaments of some countries of western Europe aiming to conceal the tragedy of the Azerbaijani people and forget their victims and the continuous occupation of 20 per cent of the territory of a sovereign country." "Like our entire nation, the Jewish community of Azerbaijan knows what a genocide is. Today we are mourning for the victims of the Azerbaijani people, because only by uniting the efforts of all people of goodwill, will peoples will be able to oppose nationalistic insanity, with which some countries and people are still gripped," the Jewish leaders concluded. Bishop Aleksandr of Baku and the Caspian also issued a statement entitled "Statement of the Bishop of Baku and the Caspian" on the day of national mourning 31st March, paying respect to the Azeri victims of Armenian aggression.