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The March Days or '''March Events''' refer to an inter-ethnic warfare during the and other locations of Baku Governorate ."New Republics in the Caucasus", ''The New York Times Current History'', v. 11 no. 2 (March 1920), p. 492 Michael Smith. "Azerbaijan and Russia: Society and State: Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani National Memory" Azeri sources refer to the event as "genocide". Decree of President of Republic of Azerbaijan about genocide of Azerbaijani people, March 1998 PACE Written Declaration, "Recognition of the genocide perpetrated against the Azeri population by the Armenians", Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Doc. 9066 2nd edition, 14 May 2001 PRECEDING EVENTS After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 , "the Bolsheviks, led by Stepan Shaumyan , the ‘Caucasian Lenin’, had virtual control of Baku, the richest and largest city in the Azerbaijani heartland. To make matters worse, Shaumian was an Armenian, and already there were alarming signs that, at his instigation, Armenian nationalists and Bolsheviks in Baku had reached an accommodation clearly directed against the Azerbaijanis".Peter Hopkirk, "Like hidden fire. The Plot to bring down the British Empire", Kodansha Globe, New York, 1994, p. 287. ISBN-10: 1-56836-127-0 This success could be partly attributed to millions in gold roubles paid to the Armenians by the British government Ibid., pp. 262-266, 287. On , and his body was brought to Baku for the funeral scheduled on March 27, 1918 Michael Smith. "Azerbaijan and Russia: Society and State: Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani National Memory" . Only a few days before the arrival of General Talyshinski and his staff, Stepan Shaumyan , the leader of Baku Soviet, had received a telegram from Lenin which read:
Despite this appeal for calm from Lenin to Shaumyan , immediately upon its arrival, some officers of the Azerbaijani division including its commander, General Talyshinski, were arrested by the Baku Soviet, which resulted in calls for armed resistance to the Soviet among the Azerbaijanis in the city Firuz Kazemzadeh. ''Struggle For Transcaucasia (1917 - 1921)'', New York Philosophical Library, 1951, p. 70. and sparked the violence that pursued on March 30th through April 3rd in Baku Michael Smith. "Azerbaijan and Russia: Society and State: Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani National Memory" , known as "the March Days of 1918." "The Russian Revolution as National Revolution: Tragic Deaths and Rituals of Remembrance in Muslim Azerbaijan (1907–1920)," Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, vol. 49 (2001). On 30 March the Soviet based on the unfounded report that the Muslim crew of the ship ''Evelina'' was armed and ready to revolt against the Soviet, disarmed the crew which tried to resist '','' Vol. 1, pp. 282–283.. In response, a huge crowd gathered in the yard of one of the Baku mosques and adopted a resolution demanding the release of the rifles confiscated by the Soviet from the crew of the ''Evelina''. One of the Bolshevik leaders, Prokopius Dzhaparidze , promised to satisfy this demand, but in the meantime shooting started in the streets ''Claims of the Peace Delegation of the Republic of Caucasian Azerbaijan presented to the Peace Conference in Paris'', Paris, 1919, pp. 18–19.. MASSACRE ON 30-31 MARCH, 1918 By 6 p.m, 30 March , 1918, Baku was filled with fighting. Trenches were being dug, barricades erected, and preparations made for warfare G. Tchalkhouchian. ''Le livre rouge'', Paris, Veradzenout, 1919, pp. 85-86. The Soviet side, led by Shaumyan, realized that full civil war was starting and its own forces were insufficient against Azerbaijani masses led by Musavat . Allies were found among Baku Mensheviks , S.R.'s , and the Kadets (right-wing liberals), which promised support the Bolsheviks as the champions of the "Russian Cause."B. Baikov. ''Воспоминания о революции в Закавказии'', Memoirs of Russian Kadet in Baku 1917 - 1920, p. 122. Musavat quickly noticed the nationalist nature of the conflict perpetrated by the Shauyman-led Soviet F. Kazemzadeh. ''open citation'', p. 71. Musavat's newspaper, ''Achiq Söz'', wrote that the Bolsheviks, who had fought the Mensheviks for a whole year, were now uniting even with Kadets and the Dashnaks, and that such cooperation could only be explained by policy of provoking one nationality against the other. It further stated that instead of fighting a class war, Soviet was involved in a tragic capitulation of democracy ''Achiq Söz'', No. 627, 1918.. But it was neither the Kadets, nor the Mensheviks, nor the S.R.'s who saved the Soviet during the March Days. It was the Dashnaktsutiun , with its military organization, that tipped the scaled in its favor. At first, the Armenian National Council proclaimed its neutrality in the quarrel between the Musavat and the Soviet; it has even been suggested that the Armenians told the Musavat that the latter might expect their help against the Bolsheviks. If this was the case, then the Armenians were largely responsible for provoking the massacre that ensued, because the Musavat plunged into the armed conflict, thinking that it had only one enemy to face . In fact, Suren Shaumyan, the son of Stepan Shaumyan wrote that "the Muslim National Council would not have taken up arms, had it not confidence in its ally Dashnaks " Suren Shaumyan. "Бакинская Коммуна 1918-го года", ''Пролетарская Революция'', No. 12 (59), 1926, p. 78. Once the Soviet had called upon the Dashnaktsutiun to lend its assistance in the struggle against the Azerbaijani nationalists in Baku, the "civil war" degenerated into massacre, with ethnic Armenians and Azeris killing each other irrespective of their political affiliations or social and economic position Firuz Kazemzadeh. ''open citation'', p. 75. On 31 March 1918, the ultimatum was issued by the Baku Soviet to Musavat, with the term of compliance set at 3 p.m. on 1 April, 1918 . Although Musavat accepted the ultimatum, the fighting was uncontrollable on the streets of Baku, and the Armenians who had loudly proclaimed their neutrality suddenly swung towards the Soviet and joined the attack against the Musavat: According to Peter Hopkirk : An Azerbaijani Boshevik and Hummet member, Sultan Medjid Efendiev , wrote: That the attack was directed just as much against the civilian population as against the military detachments of Musavat there can be no doubt. Every Azerbaijani whom the Dashnak bands could catch was killed, and many Persians lost their lives too.''Известия'', No. 90, Moscow, 9th May, 1918. According to various sources, a total of between 3,000 to 12,000 Muslims were killed during the violence . In fact, Shaumyan said that 20,000 men took part in the fighting: Shaumyan further "admitted that the participation of the Armenian units ‘lent the civil war, to some extent, the character of a national massacre’, adding that ‘the Muslim poor suffered severely’" In his letter to the Council of People's Commissars dated April 13th, Stepan Shaumyan writes: Joseph Stalin , who was Bolshevik People's Commissar at the time, tried to justify the provoking of the ''March Days'' by the Baku Soviet in Bolshevik "Pravda" newspaper: ''"While the center of Muslims, Baku, the citadel of Soviet power in Transcaucasus, unified around itself the entire Eastern Transcaucasus, from Lenkoran and Kuba till Elizavetpol, with arms in hands is asserting the rights of people of Transcaucasus, who try by all forces to maintain a link with Soviet Russia"'' J. Stalin. "Положение на Кавказе", ''Правда'', № 100, May 23, 1918 . According to one source, pro-Bolshevik Moslems from the Hummet party also took part in the attack on the Azeri quarters in Baku.Ariel Cohen, "Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis", Praeger/Greenwood 1996, p. 73, ISBN 0275964817 However this claim is not supported by other sources. S.M. Efendiev, one of the leaders of the Hummet, was very critical on the conduct of the events. Eventually when the civil war started, most of the Muslims of Russia allied themselves with the Bolsheviks, as the other side seemed even less attractive . However, in the mind of Azerbaijani people, the Baku Commune became the bitter symbol of the Bolshevik - Armenian collusion born out of the March Days bloodbath Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. ISBN: 0231070683 The opinions of scholars about the motives of Dashnak militants differ. According to Michael P. Croissant, the Dashnaks set out to take revenge for the persecution and Genocide Suffered By Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans ,Michael P. Croissant. ''The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications'', p. 14. ISBN 0-275-96241-5 while Tadeusz Swietochowski states that "Armenian historians do not offer an explanation for the political calculations behind this move, which was bound to entail terrible retribution, and they hint rather at an uncontrollable emotional outburst".Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. ISBN: 0231070683 Image:3 march days 1918.jpg Image:4 march days 1918.jpg Image:5 march days 1918.jpg Image:6 march days 1918.jpg AFTERMATH "The March events touched off a series of massacres all over Azerbaijan " F. Kazemzadeh. ''open citation'', p. 73.. "The brutalities continued for weeks. No quarter was given by either side: neither age nor sex was respected. Enormous crowds roamed the streets, burning houses, killing every passer-by who was identified as an enemy, many innocent persons suffering death at the hands of both the Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The struggle which had begun as a political contest between the Musavat and the Soviet assumed the characters of a gigantic race riot" . The Armenian archbishop, Bagrat, wrote a letter to the Armenian mission in Baku , explaining the March Events. The letter began with the accusation that the Azerbaijanis, being the disciples of the Turks and the Germans , could not be trusted. Having thus disposed of the Azerbaijani version of the events, Bagrat stated that the battle was waged by the Musavat and the Soviet, while the Armenians remained neutral. He continued by saying that some Armenian soldiers took part in the fighting, but that those were only isolated individuals for whom the Armenian National Council could not be held responsible. The Archbishop placed the entire guilt upon the Musavat, calling it the helper of Turks . As far as massacre of civilians was concerned, Bagrat denied that the Armenians had anything to do with it; in fact, he claimed that the Armenians gave shelter to some 20,000 Muslims during the struggle Jean Loris-Melikof. ''La revolution russe et les nouvelles Republiques Transcaucasiennes,'' Paris, Felix Alcan, 1920, pp. 115-117.. Persian Armenians in Baku tried to and saved many lives of their fellow citizens, which may have been the basis for Bagrat's exaggerated assertion that some 20,000 Muslims were saved by Armenians . Although not an isolated incident, given the participation of the Azerbaijanis during the (ANC) reported a total of 8,988 ethnic Armenians massacred, among which were 5,248 Armenian inhabitants of Baku, 1,500 Armenian refugees from other parts of the Caucasus who were in Baku, and 2,240 Armenians whose corpses were found in the streets but whose identities were never established F. Kazemzadeh, ''open citation'', p. 143-144. It must be noted that these figures were gathered by the ''Armenian National Council'', whom one can hardly expect to be objective in such a matter ; yet, considering the general run of events, they cannot be much exaggerated B. Ishkhanian. ''Великие ужасы в городе Баку'', Tiflis, 1920, pp. 28-30 quoted in ''Ibid.'', p. 144.. SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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