Armenian pogrom in Baku in 1918

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The 1918 Armenian pogrom in Baku was an outbreak of mass violence that took place in the capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic during the Russian Civil War . Enver Pasha's Ottoman " Army of Islam " and its local Azerbaijani allies killed Armenians and other non-Muslims after they captured Baku on September 15, 1918 . According to various estimates, 9,000 to 30,000 Armenians lost their lives in this pogrom .

The events are viewed by some historians as a continuation of the Armenian genocide . Others classify the attacks as part of a series of massacres of prisoners of war and civilians committed by both sides during the First World War , in which, in addition to Turks and Russians, Armenians also took part. Through these mass murders, a reciprocal desire for revenge was promoted on the respective victim side, which then triggered renewed attacks on the other side. In this respect, the Armenian pogrom of September 1918 can be seen as revenge in the context of the March massacres of 1918 by the Armenian nationalist Dashnaksin March 1918 about 12,000 Azerbaijanis killed because of their religion and ethnicity. Similar attacks and atrocities against the Muslim population of Baku had occurred during the March events.

background

Armenian and Russian defenders before Baku, 1918.
Units of the "Islam Army" 1918.

After the October Revolution in Russia, the city of Baku was ruled from April 1918 by a Soviet (council), since June under the leadership of the Armenian-born Bolshevik Stepan Shahumyan . The Baku commune collaborated with the local branch of the Armenian nationalist Dashnak party to take control of the city and its surrounding areas. At the beginning of the summer of 1918, Baku was increasingly threatened by the army of the Ottoman Empire . The armed forces of both sides met in June and July. The loyal forces of the Baku Commune failed to stop the Ottoman- Azerbaijani offensive; they had to withdraw. With the imminent attack by Ottoman and Azerbaijani troops on Baku and with no promise of material support from Moscow , the Baku commune was forced to turn to the British expeditionary corps, which was stationed in the region under the command of Major General Lionel Dunsterville . Shahumyan was under orders from Moscow, who refused to allow the British to enter, but was overruled by his councilors, who officially asked for British help in late July. On July 31, 1918, Shahumyan and the other Bolshevik members of the Baku Council of People's Commissars resigned, and control of the city was taken by the Central Aspen dictatorship . This was ruled by Dashnaks, Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks and supported by the British.

In August, the Ottoman military, led by the Ottoman "Islam Army", launched a counter-offensive against the front line positions, which were mainly occupied by Armenians. The Armenians had to withdraw after some initial victories. The British expeditionary unit was too small to have much military effect in the defense of Baku . Shortly before the pogrom, some British military in Baku observed some excesses of violence against the city's Muslim population, which further fueled the mood between the various ethnic groups and religions. The commander of the British expeditionary force in Baku wrote in his diary on September 12, 1918:

"These wicked Armenians never cease their Mahomedan atrocities. Last night they raided a Tartar house and when Russian soldiers went to restore order, the Captain's son was shot and the ship is in mourning to-day "

“These evil Armenians never stop their atrocities against the Mohammedans. Last night they raided a Tatar house and when Russian soldiers tried to restore order, our captain's son was shot and our ship is in mourning today. "

- Lionel Dunsterville : The Diaries of General Lionel Dunsterville 1911–1922

In the first week of September, a joint Ottoman-Azerbaijani unit of 15,000 men fought their way to Baku without great resistance and reached their suburbs on September 13th. Meanwhile, Baku's Muslim population was preparing to “welcome” the invasion of the Ottoman army. The remaining Armenian troops were too ill-prepared to stop the advance, and British commander Dunsterville evacuated his Dunsterforce formations on September 14 and sailed for Enseli , leaving the city at the mercy of the Ottoman-Azerbaijani armed forces.

procedure

Panic broke out in Baku when Turkish units marched into the city. Armenians gathered at the port and tried to flee from the incoming troops. The regular Ottoman troops were not allowed to enter the city for two days, and they first captured the nearby oil wells on the Apsheron Peninsula , which were defended by oil workers . Local bashibosuks , irregular Ottoman troops, carried out looting and raids, which was common in resisting cities at the time. Even so, regular Ottoman troops, along with the irregular units and Azerbaijani units, also took part in the looting aimed at the city's Armenian population. Calls from German officers attached to the Ottoman command staff to treat the local population with indulgence were ignored by the local Ottoman commanders. The clerk in charge of the post and telegraph office in Baku was one of the two negotiating the surrender of the city and trying to prevent the worst excesses. He described his experiences and perception of the events as follows:

"Robberies, murders and rapes were at their height [at 4.00 pm on September 15]. In the whole town massacres of the Armenian population and robberies of all non-Muslim peoples were going on. They broke the doors and windows, entered the living quarters, dragged out men, women and children and killed them in the street. From all the houses the yells of the people who were being attacked were heard .... In some spots there were mountains of dead bodies, and many had terrible wounds from dum-dum bullets. The most appalling picture was at the entrance to the Treasury Lane from Surukhanskoi Street. The whole street was covered with dead bodies of children not older than nine or ten years. About eighty bodies carried wounds inflicted by swords or bayonets, and many had their throats cut; it was obvious that the wretched ones had been slaughtered like lambs. From Telephone Street we heard cries of women and children and we heard single shots. Rushing to their rescue I was obliged to drive the car over the bodies of dead children. The crushing of bones and strange noises of torn bodies followed. The horror of the wheels covered with the intestines of dead bodies could not be endured by the colonel and the asker (adjutant). They closed their eyes with their hands and lowered their heads. They were afraid to look at the terrible slaughter. Half mad from what he saw, the driver sought to leave the street, but was immediately confronted by another bloody hecatomb. "

“Robberies, murders, and rape were at their peak [on September 15, 1918 at 4:00 PM]. All over the city massacres of the Armenian population took place and looting of the non-Muslim peoples was in progress. They broke open the doors and windows of the apartments and dragged the men, women and children into the street and killed them. The screams of people could be heard from almost all the houses that were attacked ... In some places there were piles of corpses and many had terrible injuries from dum-dum bullets. This frightening picture was also seen at the entrance to the Treasury on Surukhanskoi Street. The whole street was littered with corpses; the dead children were no more than nine or ten years old. Wounds inflicted by swords or bayonets were seen on over eighty bodies, and many had their throats cut as if the unfortunate had been slaughtered like lambs. On Telephone Street we heard screams from women and children, and we heard single shots. During our frantic escape, I had to drive over children's corpses. Their bones were crushed and their torn bodies made strange noises. The Colonel and his aide could not bear the creepy sight of the wheels covered with the entrails of the corpses; they closed their eyes with their hands and bowed their heads. They were afraid of this terrible slaughter. Half mad from what he had seen, the driver tried to leave the road but was immediately confronted with another bloody hecatomb. "

On September 16, the Ottoman divisions officially marched into the city of Baku with a victory parade, which was monitored by the Ottoman High Command. Baku was then to be proclaimed the capital of the newly formed Azerbaijani Republic instead of Gändschä .

The number of Armenian victims is estimated at 9,000 to 50,000 people. According to an investigation by a special commission formed by the Armenian National Council, a total of 8,988 ethnic Armenians are said to have died, including 5,248 Armenian residents from Baku and 1,500 Armenian refugees from other parts of the Caucasus . The information could not be verified, however, because in the residential areas of the Armenians in Baku many bodies were found on the streets, the identity of which could not be clearly established. According to Hrant Avetisjan, director of the Institute for History of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, 50,000 of the 70,000 to 80,000 Armenian inhabitants of Baku at the time are said to have been deported and killed.

aftermath

The events further worsened the mood between the Armenian and Azerbaijani ethnic groups. The question of guilt and the search for those responsible for the 1918 pogroms in Baku were also discussed by the Armenian population. For example, the Armenian Aram Jerkanjan from the secret Armenian Nemesis command murdered the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in revenge for his (actual or alleged) guilt for the pogroms and the Armenian genocide. At the same time, the Azerbaijani Justice Minister Khalil Khasmammadov survived an attempted assassination. On July 19, 1921, the former Azerbaijani Minister of the Interior, Behbud Khan Javanshir, was killed in Istanbul . The assassin Misak Torlakyan was an Armenian resident of Trabzon and had lost his family in similar incidents. Torlakyan had to answer before a British military tribunal, before which numerous witnesses to the pogroms were also heard. The court disagreed with his argument that the act was committed for understandable reasons for revenge; he was found guilty.

See also

literature

  • Richard G. Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. University of California Press, Berkeley 1967, ISBN 0-520-00574-0 .
  • Christopher J. Walker: Armenia. The Survival of a Nation. St. Martin's Press, New York 1990, ISBN 0-7099-0210-7 , p. 261.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. 1967, p. 227.
  2. ^ A b Egbert Jahn : Memory of genocide as a political weapon in the present. The example of the Ottoman genocide against the Armenians. In: Political Issues. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 87-88.
  3. ^ A b Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. 1967, pp. 227, 312, fn. 36.
  4. ^ Human Rights Watch . Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights . Human Rights Watch, New York 1995.
  5. ↑ a b Michael P. Croissant: The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict. Causes and Implications. Praeger, London 1998, ISBN 0-275-96241-5 , p. 14 f.
  6. ↑ a b George Andreopoulos: Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions . University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, ISBN 0-8122-1616-4 , 1997, p. 236.
  7. ^ Kipke: The Armenian-Azerbaijani Relationship and the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict . 2012, p. 23-24 .
  8. ↑ Alex Marshall: The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule (=  Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe . Volume 12). Taylor & Francis, 2009, ISBN 978-0-415-41012-0 , pp. 96 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ^ Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. 1967, p. 220.
  10. ^ Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. 1967, p. 221.
  11. ^ Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. 1967, p. 222.
  12. ↑ Lionel Dunsterville's diary 1911–1922 at gwpda.org , entry from September 12, 1918, accessed on April 14, 2013 (English).
  13. ^ Hovannisian: Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. 1967, pp. 225-227.
  14. ↑ a b c Walker: Armenia. 1990, p. 260.
  15. ↑ Walker: Armenia. 1990, p. 261.
  16. ↑ Firuz Kazemzadeh: The Struggle for Transcaucasia: 1917–1921 . Philosophical Library, New York 1951, pp. 143-144.
  17. ^ Bruno Coppieters: Commonwealth and Independence in Post-Soviet Eurasia . Routledge, London 1998, ISBN 0-7146-4480-3 , pp. 82 .
  18. ↑ operationnemesis.com: Operation Nemesis. at operationnemesis.com, accessed May 14, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Jacques Derogy: Resistance and revenge: the Armenian assassination of the Turkish leaders responsible for the 1915 massacres and deportation. New Brunswick 1990, pp. 121-122. (English)