List of massacres in Azerbaijan

Last updated

The following lists are of massacres that have occurred within the current boundaries of Azerbaijan (numbers may be approximate).

Contents

Before 1988

NameYearDateLocationDeathsTargeted groupNotes
Sack of Shamakhi 172118 August Shamakhi 4,000–5,000 [1] [2] Shia inhabitants of ShamakhiShia inhabitants of the city (includes the city's officials) were killed by rebellious Sunni Lezgin tribesmen. [1] [2]
Battle of Ganja (1804) 1804February Ganja 1,500–3,000 [3] Inhabitants of GanjaCivilians were massacred during the capture of the city by the Russians; some of the captured soldiers were executed [4]
Armenian–Tatar massacres of 1905–1907 1905–1907February Baku; Nakhchivan; Shusha; Tiflis 3,000–10,000Armenians, Azerbaijanis
Shamkhor Massacre 1918January Şəmkir 1,000armed Russian soldiersRussian soldiers killed by Azerbaijani nationalists [5] [6] [7]
March Days 1918March 30 – April 2 Azerbaijan 12,000–25,000AzerbaijanisAccording to the statements of Azerbaijan representatives, "the Bolsheviks". [9]
September Days 1918September Baku 10,000–15,000ArmeniansArmenians killed by the Army of Islam [10] [11]
Khaibalikend Massacre 1919June 5–7 Nagorno-Karabakh 600–700ArmeniansArmenians killed by armed ethnic Azerbaijani and Kurdish irregulars and Azerbaijani soldiers; [12] Villages of Khaibalikend, Jamillu, Karkujahan and Pahliul were destroyed [13] [14]
Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan 1919–1920July–December Nakhchivan 10,000 [15] Armenians
Agulis Massacre 1919December 24–25 Yuxarı Əylis 1,400 [16] [17] ArmeniansEarly-20th-century anti-Armenian massacre of the Armenian population of Agulis by the Turkish army accompanied by the Azerbaijani refugees from Zangezur which resulted in the destruction of the town of Agulis. [18] [19]
Shusha pogrom 1920March 22–26 Shusha 500–20,000 [20] [21] ArmeniansArmenians killed by Azerbaijanis
1920 Ganja Revolt 1920June Ganja 15,000AzerbaijanisBolsheviks slaughtered civilians including women and children after the capture of rebel Ganja. Many women were raped and Koran were burnt. [22] [23]

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The following is a list of massacres and pogroms, which took place in the course of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

NameYearDateLocationDeathsTargeted groupNotes
Sumgait pogrom 1988February 27 – March 1 Sumgait 32 (26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis) [24] ArmeniansArmenians killed by Azerbaijanis; 20 ambulances were destroyed, [25] and reports detail widespread rape, [26] mutilation, robberies and disemboweling of fetuses [27] [28]
Kirovabad pogrom 1988November Kirovabad 130 ArmeniansArmeniansAzeri-led pogrom directed against Armenian inhabitants of Kirovabad (now Ganja)
Baku Pogrom 1990January 13 Baku 90ArmeniansArmenians killed by Azerbaijanis; many incidents of rape, robbery and torture; [29] 700 injured. [30] [31]
Black January 1990January 19–20 Baku, Azerbaijan 133–137Peaceful protesters of the Azerbaijani national independence movementKilled by Soviet troops; ambulance workers rushing to help the wounded and random passers-by, including women and children, among the dead
Operation Ring 1991April 30 – May 15 Shahumyan Province unknownArmeniansnumber of casualties unknown, approximately 17,000 people displaced, gross human rights violations [32]
Capture of Gushchular and Malibeyli 1992February 10–12 Malibeyli, Ashaghi Gushchular, Yukhari Gushchular villages of Shusha District 8 (per Helsinki Watch) [33]
15–50 (per Azerbaijan) [34] 		AzerbaijanisAzerbaijanis killed by Armenian irregular armed units [33]
Khojaly Massacre 1992February 25–26 Khojaly, Azerbaijan More than 200 [35] [36] (per Human Rights Watch)

613 [37] (per Azerbaijan)

AzerbaijanisAzerbaijanis killed by Armenian troops.
Maraga Massacre 1992April 10 Maraga 40–100ArmeniansArmenians killed (many decapitated); corpses buried in a mass grave outside the village. [38]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khojaly massacre</span> 1992 mass killing of Azerbaijanis during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War

The Khojaly massacre was the mass killing and disfiguring of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces and the 366th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the dissolving Soviet Ground Forces in the town of Khojaly on 26 February 1992. The event became the largest single massacre throughout the entire Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Republic of Armenia</span> 1918–1920 former country in Western Asia

The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia, was an independent Armenian state that existed from May 1918 to 2 December 1920 in the Armenian-populated territories of the former Russian Empire known as Eastern or Russian Armenia. The republic was established in May 1918, with its capital in the city of Yerevan, after the dissolution of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. It was the first Armenian state since the Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Nagorno-Karabakh War</span> 1988–1994 Armenia-Azerbaijan war

The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan with support from Turkey. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, entangled themselves in protracted, undeclared mountain warfare in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh is located in the southern part of the Lesser Caucasus range, at the eastern edge of the Armenian Highlands, encompassing the highland part of the wider geographical region known as Karabakh. Under Russian and Soviet rule, the region came to be known as Nagorno-Karabakh, meaning "Mountainous Karabakh" in Russian. The name Karabakh itself was first encountered in Georgian and Persian sources from the 13th and 14th centuries to refer to lowlands between the Kura and Aras rivers and the adjacent mountainous territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karabakh Council</span> Government of the Republic of Artsakh

The Karabakh Council was the unrecognised government over Mountainous Karabakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in eastern Armenia between 1918 and 1920. The council's body was elected by the assembly of Mountainous Karabakh—the representative body of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh—on 27 July 1918. Initially it was called the People's Government of Karabakh, but in September 1918 it was renamed into the Karabakh Council. The Karabakh Council's control throughout 1918–1920 did not exceed the ethnic Armenian locales of Karabakh which were subordinate to them. The council's statehood related to the historical Artsakh province and the modern-day self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh founded in 1991. Its capital was the city of Shushi (Shusha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920)</span> 1918–20 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

The Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1918–1920) was a conflict that took place in the South Caucasus in regions with a mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani population, broadly encompassing what are now modern-day Azerbaijan and Armenia. It began during the final months of World War I and ended with the establishment of Soviet rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maraga massacre</span> Mass murder of Armenian civilians

The Maraga massacre was the mass murder of Armenian civilians in the village of Maraga (Maragha) by Azerbaijani troops, which had captured the village on April 10, 1992, in the course of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The villagers, including men, women, children and elderly, were killed indiscriminately and deliberately, their houses were pillaged and burnt; the village was destroyed. Amnesty International reports that over 100 women, children and elderly were tortured and killed and a further 53 were taken hostage, 19 of whom were never returned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shusha massacre</span> 1920 mass killing of Armenian civilians by Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh

The Shusha or Shushi massacre, also known as the Shusha pogrom, was the mass killing of the Armenian population of Shusha from 22–26 March 1920 and the destruction and process of "cultural de-Armenianization" of Nagorno-Karabakh. The number of deaths vary across sources, with the most conservative estimate being 500, and the highest estimates reaching 20,000.

Armenians in Azerbaijan are the Armenians who lived in great numbers in the modern state of Azerbaijan and its precursor, Soviet Azerbaijan. According to the statistics, about 500,000 Armenians lived in Soviet Azerbaijan prior to the outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1988. Most of the Armenian-Azerbaijanis however had to flee the republic, like Azerbaijanis in Armenia, in the events leading up to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, a result of the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Atrocities directed against the Armenian population took place in Sumgait, Ganja and Baku. Today the vast majority of Armenians in Azerbaijan live in territory controlled by the break-away region Nagorno-Karabakh which declared its unilateral act of independence in 1991 under the name Nagorno-Karabakh Republic but has not been recognised by any country, including Armenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 874</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1993

United Nations Security Council resolution 874, adopted unanimously on 14 October 1993, reaffirmed sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijani Republic and of all other States in the region, called for the preservation of the ceasefire, cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of forces from recently occupied districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and reaffirmed resolutions 822 (1993) and 853 (1993). The Council expressed its concern at "...the conflict in and around the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic, and of the tensions between the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijani Republic...", and called upon the parties to observe the ceasefire agreed with by the government of Russia and OSCE Minsk Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khosrov bey Sultanov</span>

Khosrov bey Alipasha bey oghlu Sultanov, also spelled as Khosrow Sultanov, was an Azerbaijani statesman, General Governor of Karabakh and Minister of Defense of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic.

The Capture of Gushchular and Malibeyli was an incident in which eight ethnic Azerbaijani civilians were killed by Armenian irregular armed units in simultaneous attacks on the villages of Malibeyli, Ashaghi Gushchular, and Yukhari Gushchular in the Shusha District of Azerbaijan, on February 10–12, 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Stepanakert</span> Battle during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War

The siege of Stepanakert started in late 1991, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh, when the Azerbaijani forces circled the city. Until May 1992, the city and its Armenian population were the target of a months-long campaign of bombardment by Azerbaijan. The bombardment of Stepanakert and adjacent Armenian towns and villages, which took place under the conditions of total blockade by Azerbaijan, caused widespread destruction and many civilian deaths.

The Khaibalikend massacre was the mass killing of Armenian civilians in the villages of Ghaibalishen (Khaibalikend), Jamilli, and Karkijahan and Pahlul in Nagorno-Karabakh, from June 5 to 7, 1919. The villages were destroyed, and from 600 to 700 ethnic Armenians, including women and children, were murdered by armed ethnic Azeri and Kurdish irregulars and Azerbaijani soldiers. The massacre was organized by Nagorno-Karabakh's Governor-General Khosrov bek Sultanov and led by his brother, Sultan bek Sultanov.

Anti-Armenian sentiment or Armenophobia is widespread in Azerbaijan, mainly due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Armenians are "the most vulnerable group in Azerbaijan in the field of racism and racial discrimination." A 2012 opinion poll found that 91% of Azerbaijanis perceive Armenia as "the biggest enemy of Azerbaijan." The word "Armenian" (erməni) is widely used as an insult in Azerbaijan. Stereotypical opinions circulating in the mass media have their deep roots in the public consciousness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenia–Azerbaijan border</span> International border

The Armenia–Azerbaijan border is the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Estimates of the border's length vary from 996 km (619 mi) to 1,007.1 km (625.8 mi). European routes E002 and E117 cross the border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agulis massacre</span> Massacre event

The Agulis massacre was a massacre of the Armenian population of Agulis by Azerbaijani state authorities and Azeri locals from Ordubad and refugees from Zangezur as part of the Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan against the First Republic of Armenia. The attack, lasting from December 24 to December 25, 1919, resulted in the destruction of the town of Agulis.

Zangezur <i>uezd</i> Uezd in Caucasus, Russian Empire

The Zangezur uezd was a county (uezd) of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Gerusy from 1868 until its formal abolition and partition between the Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1921. The area of the Zangezur uezd corresponded to most of the contemporary Syunik province of Armenia, and Lachin, Gubadly, Zangilan, and Shusha districts of Azerbaijan.

In the aftermath of World War I and during the Armenian–Azerbaijani and Russian Civil wars, there were mutual massacres committed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis against each other. A significant portion of the Muslim population of the Erivan Governorate were displaced during the internecine conflict by the government of Armenia. Starting in 1918, Armenian partisans expelled thousands of Azerbaijani Muslims in Zangezur and destroyed their settlements in an effort to "re-Armenianize" the region. These actions were cited by Azerbaijan as a reason to start a military campaign in Zangezur. Ultimately, Azerbaijan took in and resettled tens of thousands of Muslim refugees from Armenia. The total number of killed is unknown.

References

  1. 1 2 Atkin 1980, p. 4.
  2. 1 2 Matthee 2012, p. 225.
  3. ↑ Peter Avery; William Bayne Fisher, Gavin Hambly, Charles Melville (1991-10-25). The Cambridge history of Iran: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Cambridge University Press. p. 332. ISBN   978-0-521-20095-0.
  4. ↑ THE SIEGE AND ASSAULT OF FORTRESS GANJA (in Russian)
  5. ↑ The formation of the Soviet Union: communism and nationalism, 1917-1923 By Richard Pipes - p. 103
  6. ↑ the Modern encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet history, Volume 39 by Joseph L. Wieczynski - p. 170
  7. ↑ Wladimir S. Woytinsky: La Democratie. p. 113
  8. Michael Smith. "Pamiat' ob utratakh i Azerbaidzhanskoe obshchestvo/Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani. National Memory". Azerbaidzhan i Rossiia: obshchestva i gosudarstva (Azerbaijan and Russia: Societies and States) (in Russian). Sakharov Center. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  9. ↑ "New Republics in the Caucasus". The New York Times Current History. 11 (2): 492. March 1920.
  10. ↑ Hovannisian. Armenia on the Road to Independence, p. 227.
  11. ↑ Human Rights Watch. Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights . New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995.
  12. ↑ Hovannisian, Richard. The Republic of Armenia: Vol. I, The First Year, 1918-1919. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971, pp. 176-177, notes 51-52.
  13. ↑ (in Armenian) Vratsian, Simon. Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն (The Republic of Armenia). Paris: H.H.D. Amerikayi Publishing, 1928, pp. 286-87.
  14. ↑ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, Vol. I, p. 181.
  15. ↑ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1982). The Republic of Armenia. Vol. 2. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 107. ISBN   0-520-04186-0.
  16. ↑ Shatan Nat’ali (1928). Turkism from Angora to Baku and Turkish Orientation. Translated by Punik Pub. the University of Michigan (published Jan 1, 2002). p. 84. ASIN   B002H1PV5Y. 1,400 - massacre in Agulis in 1919
  17. ↑ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1982). The Republic of Armenia, Vol. II: From Versailles to London, 1919-1920. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 207–238. ISBN   0-520-04186-0.
  18. ↑ Bert Vaux (2008). Zok: The Armenian dialect of Agulis (PDF). In between Paris and Fresno: Armenian studies in honor of Dickran Kouymjian. pp. 283–301. city of Agulis, located in southeastern Nakhichevan. Following the massacre of the Armenian population of Agulis by the Turkish army in 1919[ dead link ]
  19. ↑ Mikail Mamedov (20 November 2018). "Reading the novel Stone Dreams on the 100th anniversary of the "Great Catastrophe"". Cambridge University Press. The novel also refers to the massacre committed by Turkish troops on Christmas of 1919 in the midst of the Armenian Genocide, 1915–1923. At that time, Turkish commander Adif-bey ordered the mass execution of the Armenian population in the author's home village Aylis (Agulis in Armenian). Almost all Armenians were killed, with the exception of a few young girls who by the late 1980s had turned into gray-haired women.
  20. ↑ Richard G. Hovannisian. The Republic of Armenia, Vol. III: From London to Sèvres, February–August 1920
  21. ↑ Thomas de Waal. Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War. ISBN   0-8147-1944-9
  22. ↑ The I.L.P.'s ALLIES. Soviet Massacre in the Caucasus // Western Gazette. — 1920. — 1 June. — p. 12.
  23. ↑ 15,000 massacred // Cheltenham Chronicle. — 1920. — 2 June. — p. 4
  24. ↑ "The Nagorny Karabakh conflict: origins, dynamics and misperceptions". c-r.org. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010.
  25. ↑ (in Russian) "Сумгаит, Один месяц поздно" ("Sumgait, One Month Later"). Moskovskiye Novosti . April 13, 1988.
  26. ↑ Shahmuratian. Sumgait Tragedy, Interview with Levon Akopyan, p. 227.
  27. ↑ Lee, Gary. "Eerie Silence Hangs Over Soviet City." Washington Post. September 4, 1988. p. A33. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  28. ↑ Ein Volk, ein Land. Der Spiegel 13/1988
  29. ↑ Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women
  30. ↑ Europa World Year: Book 1 - p. 638, Taylor & Francis Group
  31. ↑ Thomas de Waal: Black Garden - Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York University Press, 2003, p. 90
  32. ↑ Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (1994). Azerbaijan: Seven years of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. New York: Human Rights Watch, p. 9.
  33. 1 2 Denber, Rachel; Goldman, Robert K. (1992). Bloodshed in the Caucasus: escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. Praeger Publishers. pp.  24–27. ISBN   0-275-96241-5 . Retrieved 2010-12-20. Kalbajar.
  34. ↑ Denber, Rachel; Goldman, Robert K. (1992). Bloodshed in the Caucasus: escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. Praeger Publishers. pp. 24–27. ISBN   0-275-96241-5 . Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  35. ↑ "Human Rights Watch World Report 1993 – The Former Soviet Union". Hrw.org. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  36. ↑ Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (Organization : U.S.) (1994). Azerbaijan : Seven years of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Panico, Christopher., Rone, Jemera., Human Rights Watch (Organization). New York: Human Rights Watch. ISBN   1-56432-142-8. OCLC   32207851.
  37. ↑ "United Nations Security Council: Letter Dated 7 October 2001 from the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations Addressed to the President of the Security Council". International Legal Materials. 40 (5): 1281. September 2001. doi:10.1017/s0020782900020878. ISSN   0020-7829. S2CID   232249484.
  38. ↑ Cox, Caroline and John Eibner. Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh. Zurich and Washington D.C.: Institute for Religious Minorities in the Islamic World, p. 58, 1993.

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