Baku, April 13 (AZERTAC). Pakistan-based English language diplomatic magazine “Centreline” published an article entitled “The day of genocide of Azerbaijanis”.

The article underlines that “since 1998, March 31 has been commemorated in the Republic of Azerbaijan on a state level as the Day of Genocide of the Azerbaijanis. The massacres, repressions, mass deportation from their homelands are included to the black pages of history of Azerbaijan in the 20th century. Acts of the Armenian chauvinists, who had been crazy with the fantasy of “the Great Armenia” and had resorted to all kinds of means to achieve this aim, are clearly seen in the tragic history of the Azerbaijani people.

Gulustan and Turkmanchay treaties of 1813 and 1828 at the end of the first and second wars between Russia and Iran resulted in separation of Azerbaijan. As a result, the northern part of Azerbaijan was included in the territory of Russia and the southern part in the territory of Iran.

Right after the Turkmanchay Treaty, Russian Emperor Nicholas I on March 21, 1828 declared the establishment of “Armenian Province” in the territory of Iravan and Nakhchivan khanates of Azerbaijan. Thereafter, in accordance with Turkmanchay Treaty, resettlement of Armenians from Iran to Iravan, Karabakh and Nakhchivan was carried out.

The crimes committed by the Armenians in 1918 were engraved on the memory of the Azerbaijani people forever. Thousands of Azerbaijanis were killed just for their ethnic identity, houses were set on fire, people were burnt alive. Architectural monuments, schools, hospitals, mosques and other buildings were destroyed, most of Baku turned into ruins. Genocide of Azerbaijanis was carried out in Baku, Shamakhy, Guba, Karabakh, Zangazour, Nakhchivan, Lankaran and other places with medieval barbarity. In February and March 1918, Armenians killed about 50,000 people in Baku, Shamakhy, Guba, Mugan, Lankaran and other cities of Azerbaijan. Their homes were robbed, tens of thousands of people were forced out of their homes. Only in Baku, about 30,000 people were mercilessly killed”.

The author writes that “right after the end of the World War II, mass resettlement of Armenians was started. Around 509,000 Armenians were shifted from Syria, Greece, Lebanon, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania, France, USA, Greece and Palestine to Armenia. The events of 1948-1953 were repeated again – by the instruction of the central Soviet leadership – accommodation of the refugees in Karabakh was not permitted and they had to settle in the refugee camps. Ultimately, Armenia became a mono-ethnical country and the idea of Dashnaks – Armenia without Azerbaijanis – has become a reality. After 1988, the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan resulted in occupation of 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory, turning the occupied districts into ruins and more than one million people becoming refugees and internally displaced people. Around 30,000 Azerbaijanis lost their lives, tens of thousands of people were wounded.

Khojaly genocide committed on February 26, 1992, will remain in the memories of the people as a display of inadmissible and cruel policy of Armenian nationalists. At that night, 613 people were killed with brutality.

The Republic of Azerbaijan gained its independence on October 18, 1991, and got a chance to properly evaluate the historical events that took place in Azerbaijan during the 20th century. On March 26, 1998, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the March of 1918 events, the acts committed by Armenian nationalists were given a political appraisal by a special decree signed by Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev. This decree was the first legal document testifying the genocide committed against the Azerbaijanis in the 20th century”.