Quba mass grave: Difference between revisions

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'''Guba mass grave''' is a [[mass grave]] of [[Azerbaijani people|Azeri]], [[Jewish people|Jewish]] and [[Lezgi people|Lezgi]] civilians killed by [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Armenian Dashnaks]] and [[Bolsheviks]] during the [[March days]] of 1918, discovered in 2007 during the construction of a stadium in the town of [[Quba|Guba]], in [[Azerbaijan]].<ref>Nicholas Marquez Grant (ed.), Linda Fibiger (ed.), ''Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation'' p36.</ref> The Azerbaijani government last reported in 1996 to have conducted a [[forensic analysis]] of the burial ground uncovering an unspecified number of bodies.<ref>Gananath Obeyesekere, "Narratives of the self: Chevalier Peter Dillon's Fijian cannibal adventures", in Barbara Creed, Jeanette Hoorn, ''Body Trade: captivity, cannibalism and colonialism in the Pacific'', Routledge, 2001, p. 100. ISBN 0-415-93884-8. "The 'time of dread' was roughly 1985-89, when ethnic Sinhala youth took over vast areas of the country and practiced enormous atrocities; they were only eliminated by equally dreadful state terrorism."</ref>


⚫
A [[mass grave]] of [[Azerbaijani people|Azeri]], [[Jewish people|Jewish]] and [[Lezgi people|Lezgi]] civilians in [[Quba|Guba]], allegedly, killed by [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Dashnaks]] (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) and [[Bolsheviks]] during the [[March days]] of 1918, discovered in 2007 during the construction of a stadium in the town of [[Quba|Guba]], in [[Azerbaijan]].<ref>Nicholas Marquez Grant (ed.), Linda Fibiger (ed.), ''Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation'' p 36</ref> The Azerbaijani government last reported in 1996 to have conducted a [[forensic analysis]] of the burial ground uncovering an unspecified number of bodies.<ref>Gananath Obeyesekere, "Narratives of the self: Chevalier Peter Dillon's Fijian cannibal adventures", in Barbara Creed, Jeanette Hoorn, ''Body Trade: captivity, cannibalism and colonialism in the Pacific'', Routledge, 2001, p. 100. ISBN 0-415-93884-8. "The 'time of dread' was roughly 1985-89, when ethnic Sinhala youth took over vast areas of the country and practiced enormous atrocities; they were only eliminated by equally dreadful state terrorism."</ref>
⚫
It's estimated by [[Amnesty International]] and Azerbaijani foreignsic scientists more than 3000 [[Mountain Jews]] were killed by [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Armenian Dashnaks]] during March Days events.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rovshan Mustafayev: "More than 3000 Mountain Jews were killed by Armenians during 1918-1919"|url=http://www.today.az/news/politics/25410.html|work=news.az|accessdate=1 June 2013}}</ref><ref>Richard Butler evidence to the Krstic trial 19 July 2000 ICTY transcript p 5431 [http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krstic/trans/en/000719it.htm]. Retrieved 7 April 2010.</ref><ref>Witness PW-139 evidence to the Popovice et al., 7 November 2006, ICTY transcript p 3690 http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/trans/en/061107ED.htm</ref>

⚫
It's estimated by [[Amnesty International]] and Azerbaijani foreignsic scientists more than 3,000 [[Mountain Jews]] were killed by [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Dashnaks]] during March Days events.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rovshan Mustafayev: "More than 3000 Mountain Jews were killed by Armenians during 1918-1919"|url=http://www.today.az/news/politics/25410.html|work=news.az|accessdate=1 June 2013}}</ref><ref>Richard Butler evidence to the Krstic trial 19 July 2000 ICTY transcript p 5431 [http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krstic/trans/en/000719it.htm]. Retrieved 7 April 2010.</ref><ref>Witness PW-139 evidence to the Popovice et al., 7 November 2006, ICTY transcript p 3690 http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/trans/en/061107ED.htm</ref>

[[Hayk Demoyan]], the director of the [[Tsitsernakaberd|Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute]], has pointed out that no foreign experts have examined the human remains, and that no documentary or archival evidence has been presented that mentions a massacre of Muslims having taken place in Guba.<ref>{{ru icon}} {{cite news|last=Demoyan|first=Hayk|title=Когда Губа не дура, или особенности национального геноцидостроения а Азербайджане|url=http://www.golosarmenii.am/ru/20030/world/5746/|accessdate=1 June 2013|newspaper=Golos Armenii|date=14 September 2010|agency=Hayk Demoyan}}</ref>


==Background==
==Background==
Line 7: Line 11:
During [[March Days]] an inter-ethnic strife and massacres of up to 12,000<ref name="smithmusavat">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Michael |last2= |first2= |year=2001 |month=April |title=Anatomy of Rumor: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narrative of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917-1920 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |publisher= |volume=36 |issue=2 |page=228 |url= |doi= |quote=''The results of the March events were immediate and total for the Musavat. Several hundreds of its members were killed in the fighting; up to 12,000 Muslim civilians perished; thousands of others fled Baku in a mass exodus''}}</ref><ref name="minahan">{{cite book |title=Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States |last=Minahan |first=James B. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |publisher= |location= |isbn=0-313-30610-9 |page=22 |pages= |url= |accessdate= |quote=''The tensions and fighting between the Azeris and the Armenians in the federation culminated in the massacre of some 12,000 Azeris in Baku by radical Armenians and Bolshevik troops in March 1918''}}</ref> [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]]s and other Muslims<ref name="York Times Current History 1920 p. 492">{{cite journal |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |year=1920 |month=March |title=New Republics in the Caucasus |journal=The New York Times Current History |publisher= |volume=11 |issue=2 |page=492 |url= |doi= }}</ref> that took place between March 30 and April 2, 1918 in the city of [[Baku]] and adjacent areas of the [[Baku Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]].<ref name="Smith">{{ru icon}}{{cite web |url=http://old.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm |title=Pamiat' ob utratakh i Azerbaidzhanskoe obshchestvo/Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani. National Memory |author=Michael Smith |date= |work=Azerbaidzhan i Rossiia: obshchestva i gosudarstva (Azerbaijan and Russia: Societies and States) |publisher=Sakharov Center |accessdate=21 August 2011}}</ref>
During [[March Days]] an inter-ethnic strife and massacres of up to 12,000<ref name="smithmusavat">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Michael |last2= |first2= |year=2001 |month=April |title=Anatomy of Rumor: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narrative of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917-1920 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |publisher= |volume=36 |issue=2 |page=228 |url= |doi= |quote=''The results of the March events were immediate and total for the Musavat. Several hundreds of its members were killed in the fighting; up to 12,000 Muslim civilians perished; thousands of others fled Baku in a mass exodus''}}</ref><ref name="minahan">{{cite book |title=Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States |last=Minahan |first=James B. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |publisher= |location= |isbn=0-313-30610-9 |page=22 |pages= |url= |accessdate= |quote=''The tensions and fighting between the Azeris and the Armenians in the federation culminated in the massacre of some 12,000 Azeris in Baku by radical Armenians and Bolshevik troops in March 1918''}}</ref> [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]]s and other Muslims<ref name="York Times Current History 1920 p. 492">{{cite journal |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |year=1920 |month=March |title=New Republics in the Caucasus |journal=The New York Times Current History |publisher= |volume=11 |issue=2 |page=492 |url= |doi= }}</ref> that took place between March 30 and April 2, 1918 in the city of [[Baku]] and adjacent areas of the [[Baku Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]].<ref name="Smith">{{ru icon}}{{cite web |url=http://old.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm |title=Pamiat' ob utratakh i Azerbaidzhanskoe obshchestvo/Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani. National Memory |author=Michael Smith |date= |work=Azerbaidzhan i Rossiia: obshchestva i gosudarstva (Azerbaijan and Russia: Societies and States) |publisher=Sakharov Center |accessdate=21 August 2011}}</ref>


Facilitated by a political power struggle between [[Bolshevik]]s with support of the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun)]]<ref name="dewaal2010">{{cite book |title=The Caucasus: An Introduction |last=De Waal |first=Thomas |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= |isbn=0-19-539976-5 |pages=62 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6X745rS5Ci8C&pg=PA62 |quote=''"In the so called March Days of 1918, Baku descended into a mini-civil war, after the Bolsheviks declared war on Musavat Party and then stood by as Dashnak militias rampaged through the city, killing Azerbaijanis indiscriminately"''}}</ref><ref name="suny41-42">{{cite book |title=The revenge of the past:nationalism, revolution, and the collapse of the Soviet Union |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location= |isbn=0-8047-2247-1 |pages=41–42 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-4efW7SvG0YC&pg=PA41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=In a collapsing empire:underdevelopment, ethnic conflicts and nationalisms in the Soviet Union Volume 28 |last=Buttino |first=Marco |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993 |publisher=Feltrinelli Editor |location= |isbn=88-07-99048-2 |pages=176 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=t5HKjm6vs3YC&pg=PA176 |quote=''"Violence increased during the Civil War, with massacres of Azeri Turks - by the combined forced of Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party and the Bolsheviks"''}}</ref> on one side and Azerbaijani [[Musavat]] Party on another, the events led to a suppression of Muslim revolt<ref name="Cavendish">{{cite book |title=World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2006 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |location= |isbn=0-7614-7571-0 |page=786 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C&pg=PA786 |accessdate= |quote=''Muslims in Baku revolted in March 1918, but their uprising was suppressed by the city's Armenians''}}</ref> by Bolshevik and Dashnak forces<ref name="blackgarden100">{{cite book |title=Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war |last=De Waal |first=Thomas |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2003 |publisher=NYU Press |location= |isbn=0-8147-1945-7 |page=100 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pletup86PMQC&pg=PA100 |accessdate= |quote=''When in March 1918, Azerbaijanis revolted against the Baku Commune, Armenian Dashnaks and Bolshevik troops poured into the Azerbaijani quarters of the city and slaughtered thousands''}}</ref><ref name="suny42">{{cite book |title=The revenge of the past:nationalism, revolution, and the collapse of the Soviet Union |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location= |isbn=0-8047-2247-1 |pages=42 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-4efW7SvG0YC&pg=PA42 |quote=''After crushing a Muslim revolt in the city, the Bolshevik-led government, with its small Red Guard, was forced to rely on Armenian troops led by Dashnak officers''}}</ref> and establishment of a short-lived [[Baku Commune]] in April 1918.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reformers and revolutionaries in modern Iran: new perspectives on the Iranian left |last=Cronin |first=Stephanie |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |location= |isbn=0-415-33128-5 |page=91 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=P2pGzBICVC4C&pg=PA91 |accessdate= |quote=''After the 'March Days', the Bolsheviks finally came to power and established their famous Baku Commune in April 1918''}}</ref>
Facilitated by a political power struggle between [[Bolshevik]]s with support of the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Dashnaktsutiun]]<ref name="dewaal2010">{{cite book |title=The Caucasus: An Introduction |last=De Waal |first=Thomas |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= |isbn=0-19-539976-5 |pages=62 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6X745rS5Ci8C&pg=PA62 |quote=''"In the so called March Days of 1918, Baku descended into a mini-civil war, after the Bolsheviks declared war on Musavat Party and then stood by as Dashnak militias rampaged through the city, killing Azerbaijanis indiscriminately"''}}</ref><ref name="suny41-42">{{cite book |title=The revenge of the past:nationalism, revolution, and the collapse of the Soviet Union |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location= |isbn=0-8047-2247-1 |pages=41–42 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-4efW7SvG0YC&pg=PA41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=In a collapsing empire:underdevelopment, ethnic conflicts and nationalisms in the Soviet Union Volume 28 |last=Buttino |first=Marco |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993 |publisher=Feltrinelli Editor |location= |isbn=88-07-99048-2 |pages=176 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=t5HKjm6vs3YC&pg=PA176 |quote=''"Violence increased during the Civil War, with massacres of Azeri Turks - by the combined forced of Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party and the Bolsheviks"''}}</ref> on one side and Azerbaijani [[Musavat]] Party on another, the events led to a suppression of Muslim revolt<ref name="Cavendish">{{cite book |title=World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2006 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |location= |isbn=0-7614-7571-0 |page=786 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C&pg=PA786 |accessdate= |quote=''Muslims in Baku revolted in March 1918, but their uprising was suppressed by the city's Armenians''}}</ref> by Bolshevik and Dashnak forces<ref name="blackgarden100">{{cite book |title=Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war |last=De Waal |first=Thomas |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2003 |publisher=NYU Press |location= |isbn=0-8147-1945-7 |page=100 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pletup86PMQC&pg=PA100 |accessdate= |quote=''When in March 1918, Azerbaijanis revolted against the Baku Commune, Armenian Dashnaks and Bolshevik troops poured into the Azerbaijani quarters of the city and slaughtered thousands''}}</ref><ref name="suny42">{{cite book |title=The revenge of the past:nationalism, revolution, and the collapse of the Soviet Union |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location= |isbn=0-8047-2247-1 |pages=42 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-4efW7SvG0YC&pg=PA42 |quote=''After crushing a Muslim revolt in the city, the Bolshevik-led government, with its small Red Guard, was forced to rely on Armenian troops led by Dashnak officers''}}</ref> and establishment of a short-lived [[Baku Commune]] in April 1918.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reformers and revolutionaries in modern Iran: new perspectives on the Iranian left |last=Cronin |first=Stephanie |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |location= |isbn=0-415-33128-5 |page=91 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=P2pGzBICVC4C&pg=PA91 |accessdate= |quote=''After the 'March Days', the Bolsheviks finally came to power and established their famous Baku Commune in April 1918''}}</ref>


==Investigation==
==Investigation==
[[File:Guba mass grave (2).JPG|thumb|200px|Skeletons from a mass grave]]
[[File:Guba mass grave (2).JPG|thumb|200px|Skeletons from a mass grave]]
Once the burial site was uncovered, a forensic expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of [[Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences]] was formed and sent to the location. On April 13, 2007, the first forensics report was released. According to the report, the preponderance of commingled skeletal remains suggests that the people were first executed and then thrown into the wells, 2.5 to 5 meters deep. The deepest wells had hundreds of human remains.<ref name="echo">{{cite news | url=http://echo.az/index.php?aid=135 |title = Б. Сафаров. Установить всех жертв поименно не удастся | publisher= Эхо | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}</ref> The first finds reported 137 skeletons.<ref name="jew">{{cite news |url=http://www.vosizneias.com/12028/2007/10/02/guba-azerbaijan-skull-fragments-of-137 | title = Guba, Azerbaijan - Skull Fragments of 137 People Found in Mass Grave | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}</ref>
Once the burial site was uncovered, a forensic expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of [[Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences]] was formed and sent to the location. On April 13, 2007, the first forensics report was released. According to the report, the preponderance of commingled skeletal remains suggests that the people were first executed and then thrown into the wells, 2.5 to 5 meters deep. The deepest wells had hundreds of human remains.<ref name="echo">{{cite news | url=http://echo.az/index.php?aid=135 |title = Б. Сафаров. Установить всех жертв поименно не удастся | publisher= Эхо | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}</ref> The first finds reported 137 skeletons.<ref name="jew">{{cite news |url=http://www.vosizneias.com/12028/2007/10/02/guba-azerbaijan-skull-fragments-of-137 | title = Guba, Azerbaijan - Skull Fragments of 137 People Found in Mass Grave | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}</ref>

Rape was used as a tool by the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Dashnak groups]], the chief perpetrators, to permanently separate the already conscious heterogeneous population and to drastically exhaust the opposing group.<ref name="Sandra">Ka Hon Chu, Sandra, and Anne-Marie de Brouwer. "the MEN who KILLED me." Herizons 22, no. 4 (Spring2009 2009): 16. EBSCOhost, MasterFILE Premier p16</ref> Although the exact number of women raped by genocidaires is unknown, there is evidence that determines victims of rape made up the vast majority of female survivors in areas such as [[Zaqatala]] after the genocide.<ref name="de Brouwer 2005 11"> de Brouwer, Anne-Marie L.M. (2005). "Supranational Criminal Prosecution of Sexual Violence: The ICC and the Practice of the ICTY and ICTR." Intersentia</ref>


Gahraman Agayev, the leader of the forensic expedition, reported that two main wells and two canals with human bones were uncovered. The finds indicate that 24 skulls were of children, 28 were of women of various ages. Besides ethnic Azerbaijanis, there were also Jews and [[Lezgi]]s.<ref name="echo"/> The names of 81 massacred Jewish civilians were found and confirmed.<ref name="vision">{{cite news | url=http://www.visions.az/topical,138/ | title = Mass Grave Found in Northern Azerbaijan | publisher = Visions | date = Spring 2007 | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}</ref>
Gahraman Agayev, the leader of the forensic expedition, reported that two main wells and two canals with human bones were uncovered. The finds indicate that 24 skulls were of children, 28 were of women of various ages. Besides ethnic Azerbaijanis, there were also Jews and [[Lezgi]]s.<ref name="echo"/> The names of 81 massacred Jewish civilians were found and confirmed.<ref name="vision">{{cite news | url=http://www.visions.az/topical,138/ | title = Mass Grave Found in Northern Azerbaijan | publisher = Visions | date = Spring 2007 | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}</ref>
Line 23: Line 25:
==Reactions==
==Reactions==
[[Human rights]] groups such as Center for Human Rights Development (CHRD) along with other civilian groups initiated a campaign and demanded from [[United Nations]] to arrest the murderers.<ref name="Card">Card, Claudia (1996). "Rape as a Weapon of War." ''Women and Violence'', 11(4): 5–18</ref> CHRD lawyer Thomas Weiss was instrumental in participating in legal proceedings against the suspects and also met and interviewed the relatives of the victims to collect more information.<ref name=Daruvalla>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901020429-232505,00.html|title=Anatomy of a Massacre|work=TIME Magazine |author=Daruvalla, Abi.|accessdate=20 July 2006|date=21 April 2002}}</ref>
[[Human rights]] groups such as Center for Human Rights Development (CHRD) along with other civilian groups initiated a campaign and demanded from [[United Nations]] to arrest the murderers.<ref name="Card">Card, Claudia (1996). "Rape as a Weapon of War." ''Women and Violence'', 11(4): 5–18</ref> CHRD lawyer Thomas Weiss was instrumental in participating in legal proceedings against the suspects and also met and interviewed the relatives of the victims to collect more information.<ref name=Daruvalla>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901020429-232505,00.html|title=Anatomy of a Massacre|work=TIME Magazine |author=Daruvalla, Abi.|accessdate=20 July 2006|date=21 April 2002}}</ref>

Armenia has twice sent letters to the President of the [[National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan]] academician Mahmud Kerimov, the first written by Levon Yepiskoposyan, supervisor of Human Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biology, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian president of the Anthropological Society and the second by the President of the Association of Political Science Ministry Doctor of Political Sciences Hayk Kotanjian, asking Kerimov to form a joint committee to examine the remains at the grave. Azerbaijan has not responded to the letters.<ref>{{ru icon}} {{cite news|title=Армянские политологи против политики ксенофобии Ильхама Алиева: кто же захоронен в Губе?|url=http://pda.regnum.ru/news/polit/1589098.html|accessdate=1 June 2013|date=2 November 2012|agency=[[Regnum]]}}</ref>


==Legacy==
==Legacy==

Revision as of 18:04, 1 June 2013

A mass grave of Azeri, Jewish and Lezgi civilians in Guba, allegedly, killed by Dashnaks (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) and Bolsheviks during the March days of 1918, discovered in 2007 during the construction of a stadium in the town of Guba, in Azerbaijan.[1] The Azerbaijani government last reported in 1996 to have conducted a forensic analysis of the burial ground uncovering an unspecified number of bodies.[2]

It's estimated by Amnesty International and Azerbaijani foreignsic scientists more than 3,000 Mountain Jews were killed by Dashnaks during March Days events.[3][4][5]

Hayk Demoyan, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, has pointed out that no foreign experts have examined the human remains, and that no documentary or archival evidence has been presented that mentions a massacre of Muslims having taken place in Guba.[6]

Background

Main article: March Days

During March Days an inter-ethnic strife and massacres of up to 12,000[7][8] Azerbaijanis and other Muslims[9] that took place between March 30 and April 2, 1918 in the city of Baku and adjacent areas of the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire.[10]

Facilitated by a political power struggle between Bolsheviks with support of the Dashnaktsutiun[11][12][13] on one side and Azerbaijani Musavat Party on another, the events led to a suppression of Muslim revolt[14] by Bolshevik and Dashnak forces[15][16] and establishment of a short-lived Baku Commune in April 1918.[17]

Investigation

Skeletons from a mass grave

Once the burial site was uncovered, a forensic expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences was formed and sent to the location. On April 13, 2007, the first forensics report was released. According to the report, the preponderance of commingled skeletal remains suggests that the people were first executed and then thrown into the wells, 2.5 to 5 meters deep. The deepest wells had hundreds of human remains.[18] The first finds reported 137 skeletons.[19]

Gahraman Agayev, the leader of the forensic expedition, reported that two main wells and two canals with human bones were uncovered. The finds indicate that 24 skulls were of children, 28 were of women of various ages. Besides ethnic Azerbaijanis, there were also Jews and Lezgis.[18] The names of 81 massacred Jewish civilians were found and confirmed.[20]

Semen Ikhilov, leader of Azerbaijani Sephardi Jews already published the list of killed jews in event.[21] Furthermore, Azerbaijani MP Evda Abramov, ethnical Jew, said dozens of Jews addressed him on murders of their ancestors by Armenians.[22]

Members of the Diplomatic Academy of Germany[23] and a Kuwaiti government delegation[24] have visited the site.

Reactions

Human rights groups such as Center for Human Rights Development (CHRD) along with other civilian groups initiated a campaign and demanded from United Nations to arrest the murderers.[25] CHRD lawyer Thomas Weiss was instrumental in participating in legal proceedings against the suspects and also met and interviewed the relatives of the victims to collect more information.[26]

Armenia has twice sent letters to the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan academician Mahmud Kerimov, the first written by Levon Yepiskoposyan, supervisor of Human Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biology, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian president of the Anthropological Society and the second by the President of the Association of Political Science Ministry Doctor of Political Sciences Hayk Kotanjian, asking Kerimov to form a joint committee to examine the remains at the grave. Azerbaijan has not responded to the letters.[27]

Legacy

Construction of a museum at the site of the mass grave is being planned. An initial amount of 1 million Azerbaijani manat (AZN) will be allocated for the construction.[28][29]

See also

{{{inline}}}

References

  1. ^ Nicholas Marquez Grant (ed.), Linda Fibiger (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation p 36
  2. ^ Gananath Obeyesekere, "Narratives of the self: Chevalier Peter Dillon's Fijian cannibal adventures", in Barbara Creed, Jeanette Hoorn, Body Trade: captivity, cannibalism and colonialism in the Pacific, Routledge, 2001, p. 100. ISBN 0-415-93884-8. "The 'time of dread' was roughly 1985-89, when ethnic Sinhala youth took over vast areas of the country and practiced enormous atrocities; they were only eliminated by equally dreadful state terrorism."
  3. ^ "Rovshan Mustafayev: "More than 3000 Mountain Jews were killed by Armenians during 1918-1919"". news.az. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  4. ^ Richard Butler evidence to the Krstic trial 19 July 2000 ICTY transcript p 5431 [1]. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  5. ^ Witness PW-139 evidence to the Popovice et al., 7 November 2006, ICTY transcript p 3690 http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/trans/en/061107ED.htm
  6. ^ Template:Ru icon Demoyan, Hayk (14 September 2010). "Когда Губа не дура, или особенности национального геноцидостроения а Азербайджане". Golos Armenii. Hayk Demoyan. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  7. ^ Smith, Michael (2001). "Anatomy of Rumor: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narrative of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917-1920". Journal of Contemporary History. 36 (2): 228. The results of the March events were immediate and total for the Musavat. Several hundreds of its members were killed in the fighting; up to 12,000 Muslim civilians perished; thousands of others fled Baku in a mass exodus {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Minahan, James B. Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States. p. 22. ISBN 0-313-30610-9. The tensions and fighting between the Azeris and the Armenians in the federation culminated in the massacre of some 12,000 Azeris in Baku by radical Armenians and Bolshevik troops in March 1918 {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ "New Republics in the Caucasus". The New York Times Current History. 11 (2): 492. 1920. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Template:Ru iconMichael Smith. "Pamiat' ob utratakh i Azerbaidzhanskoe obshchestvo/Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani. National Memory". Azerbaidzhan i Rossiia: obshchestva i gosudarstva (Azerbaijan and Russia: Societies and States). Sakharov Center. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  11. ^ De Waal, Thomas (2010). The Caucasus: An Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-19-539976-5. "In the so called March Days of 1918, Baku descended into a mini-civil war, after the Bolsheviks declared war on Musavat Party and then stood by as Dashnak militias rampaged through the city, killing Azerbaijanis indiscriminately" {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1993). The revenge of the past:nationalism, revolution, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 0-8047-2247-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ Buttino, Marco (1993). In a collapsing empire:underdevelopment, ethnic conflicts and nationalisms in the Soviet Union Volume 28. Feltrinelli Editor. p. 176. ISBN 88-07-99048-2. "Violence increased during the Civil War, with massacres of Azeri Turks - by the combined forced of Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party and the Bolsheviks" {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. Marshall Cavendish. 2006. p. 786. ISBN 0-7614-7571-0. Muslims in Baku revolted in March 1918, but their uprising was suppressed by the city's Armenians {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. NYU Press. p. 100. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7. When in March 1918, Azerbaijanis revolted against the Baku Commune, Armenian Dashnaks and Bolshevik troops poured into the Azerbaijani quarters of the city and slaughtered thousands {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1993). The revenge of the past:nationalism, revolution, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford University Press. p. 42. ISBN 0-8047-2247-1. After crushing a Muslim revolt in the city, the Bolshevik-led government, with its small Red Guard, was forced to rely on Armenian troops led by Dashnak officers {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ Cronin, Stephanie (2004). Reformers and revolutionaries in modern Iran: new perspectives on the Iranian left. Psychology Press. p. 91. ISBN 0-415-33128-5. After the 'March Days', the Bolsheviks finally came to power and established their famous Baku Commune in April 1918 {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ a b "Б. Сафаров. Установить всех жертв поименно не удастся". Эхо. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  19. ^ "Guba, Azerbaijan - Skull Fragments of 137 People Found in Mass Grave". Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  20. ^ "Mass Grave Found in Northern Azerbaijan". Visions. Spring 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  21. ^ "Историческое гробокопательство. Азербайджан обвиняет Армению в... геноциде горских евреев". Centrasia.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  22. ^ Ilhamgizi, Saide. "In 1918-19 Armenians killed ethnic Azerbaijanis and Sefard Jews in Azerbaijan". Trend. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  23. ^ "Сотрудники и студенты Дипломатической академии Германии посетили массовое захоронение в Губе". Day.az. May 23, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  24. ^ "KUWAITI DELEGATION VISITS GUBA MASS GRAVE". Oananews. April 15, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  25. ^ Card, Claudia (1996). "Rape as a Weapon of War." Women and Violence, 11(4): 5–18
  26. ^ Daruvalla, Abi. (21 April 2002). "Anatomy of a Massacre". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
  27. ^ Template:Ru icon "Армянские политологи против политики ксенофобии Ильхама Алиева: кто же захоронен в Губе?". Regnum. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  28. ^ "Genocide Museum to be built in Guba". Trend News. November 12, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  29. ^ "Museum to be constructed in place of Guba mass grave". news.az. November 12, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2011.

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41°21′40″N 48°29′30″E / 41.36111°N 48.49167°E / 41.36111; 48.49167

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