In March and April 1918, the Azerbaijanis were subjected to massacres by the Armenian gangs in Baku, Shamahi, Guba, Mushan and Lankaran and were expelled from their lands.
The great leader of Azerbaijan, Haydar Aliyev, signed a decree in March 1998 in order to attract the attention of the international public and to symbolize all the massacres against the Azerbaijanis by the Armenian extremists in history. With this decree, March 31 was proclaimed as the Day of Genocide of the Azerbaijanis and the valuable memory of genocide victims will always be preserved in the minds Azerbaijani society.
We commemorate all the martyrs who lost their lives at this tragic event with deep respect and mercy and I would like to reiterate that, we will strive with all our capacity to ensure stability, peace and tranquility in order to prevent occurrence of similar disastrous events.
Ambassador Ramil Hasanov
Secretary General of the Turkic Council
