… Turkish people have been suffering from the physical and moral terror, occupation and massacre policy of Armenian extreme nationalists for over 100 years. To justify their territorial claims against neighboring countries and their policy of ethnic cleansing, the Armenian extreme nationalists refer to the so called genocide allegedly committed by Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Stepan Shaumyan’s name is associated with one of the most tragic periods in the history of the Azerbaijani people in the 20th century. Acting under the banner of the Bolshevik regime, Shaumyan in fact embodied the programme of the Dashnaktsutyun party, whose strategic goal was to create an Armenian state on a considerable expanse of Azerbaijani and Turkish territory. It was possible to achieve this goal only by means of exterminating the Azerbaijani and Turkish population, and the Armenian leaders did not fail to use those means.

“I became more pacified as I saw Shusha again. In that Turkish quarter of the city, nothing but ruins was left. All the houses were burned, their owners killed. The same was committed in the Turkish quarter of Khankendi… With the help of the English, the Armenians occupied Baku, an important oil city, and killed 25,000 Turkish people”

Reasons for Relocation

The Ottoman Government, in order to deal with the Armenian riots and massacres, primarily applied regional measures and preferred to maintain a position of defence to settle the events locally.