March 31 -- the Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis

March 31 is known as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, referring to the tragic events that happened on March 31-April 1, 1918. In one of the first comprehensive scholarly studies of the tragedy, Prof Firuz Kazemzadeh wrote: "This three-day massacre by Armenians is recorded in history as the "March Events" and thousands of Muslims [Azeris], old people, women and children lost their lives" ("The Struggle for Transcaucasia, 1917-1921", New York, 1951, p. 69).

Another distinguished professor was even more blunt: "From 30 March to 1 April 1918, the Tatars [as Azerbaijanis were sometimes called] were attacked. Almost half of the Muslim population of Baku was compelled to flee the city.. Between 8,000 and 12,000 Muslims were killed in Baku alone.." (Justin McCarthy, "Death and Exile. The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims 1821-1922", Darwin Press, Princeton, NJ, 1995, p. 214).

Continues Prof Kazemzadeh: "The truth is that the Armenians, under the guise of Bolshevism, rushed on the Muslims and massacred during a few frightful days more than 12,000 people, many of whom were old men, women, and children.The March Events, as this episode became known to history, touched off a series of massacred all over Azerbaijan."

Rear-Admiral Mark L. Bristol, US High Commissioner (Ambassador) in Istanbul, wrote: "While the Dashnaks [Armenians] were in power [1918-1920] they did everything in the world to keep the pot boiling by attacking Kurds, Turks and Tartars [Azeris]; by committing outrages against the Moslems; by massacring the Moslems; and robbing and destroying their homes. During the last two years the Armenians in Russian Caucasus have shown no ability to govern themselves and especially no ability to govern or handle other races under their power" (US Library of Congress, "Bristol Papers," General Correspondence Container #34). Rear-Admiral Bristol continues, "I have it from absolute first-hand information that the Armenians in the Caucasus attacked Tartar [Azeris] villages that are utterly defenseless
and bombarded these villages with artillery and they murder the inhabitants, pillage the village and often burn the village" ("Bristol Papers", General Correspondence: Container #32: Bristol to Bradley Letter of September 14, 1920).

After the proclamation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (ADR) on May 28, 1918, the "March Events" were investigated by ADR Government. In 1919-1920, the ADR observed March 31 as a national day of mourning. This was the first-ever genuine attempt to give political and legal assessment of the policy of genocide against Azeris. No other nation has commemorated genocide as early as 1919 but the Azeris, the first victims of the crimes against humanity.

Being unable to commemorate the tragedy during Soviet years, observation of March 31 was re-established since, to commemorate not just that particular massacre, but the policy of genocide against Azeris carried out since the 19th century and throughout the entire 20th century, with the final act being the Khojaly Massacre of 1992.

The position of Azerbaijani-Americans is that close to a million Azeris have been massacred in the 20th century as the result of Armenian genocidal campaign. This makes for a total of 2,5 million Azeris, Turks, Kurds, Jews, Georgians, Circassians, Tats, Talysh, Lezgins and other people who fell victim to the Armenian policies of ethnic cleansing for the creation of their state, which was supposed to stretch from the Black sea to the Caspian to the Mediterranean.

We are asking to join the Azerbaijani-American and other communities, and the US Azeris Network (USAN), in commemorating the Azerbaijani Genocide by making a statement for the record in your committees, legislature or newspaper column or Congressional Record. Thank you!