Chaibalikend massacre

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The Khaibalikend massacre of June 5-7 , 1919 was the mass killing of Armenian civilians in the villages of Chaibalikend , Cəmilli , Kərkicahan and Fakhlul in Nagorno-Karabakh .

The villages were destroyed and 600 to 700 ethnic Armenians - including women and children - were murdered by armed, ethnic Azerbaijani and Kurdish militants, and Azerbaijani soldiers. The bloodbath was ordered by Nagorno-Karabakh Governor General, Khosrow bek Sultanov , and carried out by his brother, Sultan bek Sultanov.

prehistory

In January 1919, the commander of British units on the Caspian Sea , General William M. Thomson, accepted Khosrov bek Sultanov's appointment as provisional governor-general of Karabakh and Sangesur by the Baku government (control of Sangesur was never exercised), pending a final decision at the Paris Peace Conference . Sultanov was an Azerbaijani of Kurdish origin who was known for his anti-Armenian view. This decision was vigorously rejected by the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh - led by Karabach's Armenian Council, which favored the reunification of Karabakh with the newly established Democratic Republic of Armenia . There was also rejection by the Armenian government, as well as a number of Armenian diplomats and auxiliaries working in the region , who pointed to Sultanov's former collaboration with the Ottoman armies that occupied the area in 1918.

From June 4th to 5th, 1919, there was an Armenian- Tatar (“Azeri”) conflict in Shushi , which was organized and instigated by Sultanov. The Armenian part of the city was blocked and its population found themselves in acute shortages of food and drinking water. Meanwhile, the Russian military barracks in Chankendi (now Stepanakert ) were occupied by Azerbaijani armed forces arriving from Baku and Gandschä .

Events

Despite the measures, Sultanov's attempts to subordinate Nagorno Karabakh to the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan were unsuccessful. As tensions intensified, the situation of Armenian residents in villages near the Chankendi barracks deteriorated. This was at a time when, on June 5, 1919, armed Tatar (Azerbaijani) gangs under the command of Pasha bek Sultanov invaded the villages of Chaibalikend, Pahlul and Karkidschahan. Around 700 people, mostly innocent civilians, were murdered in Chaibalikänd alone. The three localities were burned down and lifeless bodies thrown into wells. Although Sultanov denied any wrongdoing, an investigation by the British military found that bloodbaths had taken place.

consequences

In 1919 Sultanov increased the size of the garrisons in Chankendi and advanced with his troops, again without the necessary approval of his board of directors. Ethnic tensions flared up again in Karabakh when Azerbaijani troops lynched and killed several Armenians in Khankendi and plundered surrounding areas in February. In early March, after a delegation of Karabakh Armenians met in Shosh village and rejected the possibility of a union with Azerbaijan, Sultanov sought to consolidate his control over Karabakh: he forbade Armenians from leaving Shushi without permission, Azeri troops stationed in Armenian homes, ordered Armenian veterans of the former Russian army to register so that they could not participate in military activities, and worked on plans to demolish several Armenian villages in order to sever ties between Karabakh Armenians and the Sangesur region .

The event turned out to be the prelude to a major tragedy in Nagorno-Karabakh - the Shushi bloodbaths of March 1920, in which the armed Tatar (“Azeri”) gangs almost completely destroyed the Armenian half of the regional capital. Numerous sites of particular importance to Armenian history were also destroyed in the Chaibalikend massacre; the ruins of Chaibalikend were later demolished, including the church, which has since been used as a stable.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John FR Wright: Transcaucasian Boundaries . Psychology Press, 1996, pp. 99 ( online ).
  2. ^ Richard G. Hovannisian : The Republic of Armenia. Vol. I: The First Year, 1918-1919 . University of California Press, Berkeley 1971, pp. 176-177, notes 51-52.
  3. ↑ Armenian : Simon Vratsian : Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն ( The Republic of Armenia ). HHD Amerikayi Publishing, Paris 1928, pp. 286-287.
  4. ↑ Thomas De Waal: Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War . New York University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-8147-1945-7 , p. 128.
  5. ^ Hovannisian: Republic of Armenia. Vol. I, 1971, p. 177.
  6. ↑ Johannes Rau : The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan . Köster, 2008, p. 30.
  7. ↑ a b Christopher J. Walker: Armenia and Karabagh: The Struggle for Unity . Minority Rights Publications, pp. 81 ( online ( memento of July 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF]).
  8. ↑ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia. Vol. I, 1971, p. 181.
  9. ^ Richard G. Hovannisian: The Republic of Armenia. Vol. 3: From London to Sèvres, February-August 1920 . University of California Press, Berkeley 1996, pp. 139-140.
  10. ^ Hovannisian: Republic of Armenia. Vol. 3, 1996, p. 142.
  11. ^ Hovannisian: Republic of Armenia. Vol. 3, 1996, pp. 145-147.