A commemorative event dedicated to March 31 - the Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis has been held at Baku Engineering University (BEU)

A video clip featuring March events was demonstrated after a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the tragedy and all our martyrs.

Opening the event, BEU Rector, Professor Havar Mammadov stated that a brutal genocide act was committed against Azerbaijanis from March 31 to April 3,1918 by Armenians.

The Rector noted that Armenian nationalists living with the dream of establishing a "Greater Armenia" state had purposefully pursued a policy of genocide, ethnic cleansing and deportation of the Azerbaijani people throughout history. Recalling that the signing of the Gulustan and Turkmenchay treaties in 1813 and 1828 laid the foundation for the dismemberment of the Azerbaijani people and the division of our historical lands, Havar Mammadov said that the most horrific manifestation of this policy was the act of genocide committed starting from March 1918.

He emphasized that ten thousands of civil people were murdered just due to their ethnic and religious identity in Baku city, the other cities and uyezds that were included Baku Governorate, as well as in Shamakhi, Guba uyezds, Nakhchivan, Zangazur, Karabakh, Lankaran and other regions of Azerbaijan, living places, cultural and historical monuments, mosques and the other places of worship, graveyards were destroyed. 

Only in the decree “On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis” signed by our National Leader Heydar Aliyev on March 26, 1998 after 80 years those terrible occurrences were politically assessed in an adequate way and March 31 was declared “the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.”

Stating the successful and well-thought-out policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev in order to convey the truth to the world community, protect the national memory of future generations of the Azerbaijani people and perpetuate the memory of genocide victims, Havar Mammadov  pointed out the establishment of the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex by the respective Order of the President of Azerbaijan.

Noting that the policy of genocide pursued against our people for centuries was not left unanswered, the Rector added that Karabakh was liberated from enemy occupation under the leadership of Victorious Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and our martyrs were avenged.

Later, the head of BEU Department of Social Sciences, associate professor Bilal Dadayev made a speech on the March events. Referring to archival documents and historical sources, B.Dadayev spoke in detail about the policy of genocide against the Turks throughout the history and touched upon that March 1918 events received considerable attention following the proclamation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). Adding that the process was interrupted by the collapse of the 23-month-lived ADR, the Head of the Department highlighted that after the political and legal assessment of March events by Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, this tragedy was widely promoted both domestically and internationally.

Bilal Dadayev also stressed the historical role of today's educated, patriotic youth in the liberation of our lands from occupation under the leadership of Victorious Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev in 44-Day Patriotic War.

Public Relations Department