31 March 2012, 22:00
Azerbaijan hosts events dated to Genocide Day
The commemoration ceremony in memory of victims of ethnic clashes in March 1918 was held in different regions of Azerbaijan.
March 31 was declared the Genocide Day of Azerbaijanis by the decree of President Geidar Aliev of March 26, 1998.
Today, the government officials and the public of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic have visited the memorial complex in the city of Nakhichevan and laid flowers at the monument erected in memory of the victims of 1918 events; similar events in memory of the 94th anniversary of the genocide of Azerbaijanis were held in other cities of the country, including the capital city of Baku, the "Interfax" reports.
The punitive operations in March-April 1918 were conducted under the slogan of "struggling against counterrevolution." Within a few days in Baku and surrounding dwelling settlements, thousands of people were killed; and mosques, schools and monuments of architecture were ruined.
After operations in the Baku region, massacres of civilians continued in Shemakh, Guba and other regions of Azerbaijan. The number of casualties of the events of spring 1918 in the official historiography of Azerbaijan makes from 12 to 30 thousand.
