Türkiye vows to keep memory of 1918 Azerbaijani genocide alive forever

The Turkish Ministry of National Defence has said Türkiye will continue efforts to ensure the 1918 genocide against the Azerbaijani people is remembered forever.

“During those days of profound sorrow, which have gone down in history as a dark stain, thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis were mercilessly killed by Armenian armed groups. We have not forgotten, we will not forget, and we will not let the genocide committed against our brothers to be forgotten!” the Ministry said in a post on X, marking 31 March – the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, per Caliber.Az.

Azerbaycan Türklerinin Soykırım Günü

🗓️ 31 Mart 1918

Tarihe kara bir leke olarak geçen bu acı dolu günlerde; Ermeni çeteler tarafından binlerce masum Azerbaycan Türkü acımasızca katledildi.

Kardeşlerimize yönelik soykırımı unutmadık, unutmayacağız, unutturmayacağız!… pic.twitter.com/jVcAxpTDDg

— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) March 31, 2026

March 31 is observed as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, commemorating the victims of the massacres carried out against Azerbaijanis in March 1918.

Between March and April 1918, tens of thousands of Azerbaijani civilians were killed in Baku and other towns and districts of the Baku Province. The attacks were perpetrated by Armenian Dashnak-Bolshevik armed groups operating under the authority of the Baku Soviet, targeting civilians solely because of their ethnic and religious identity.

Ethnic Armenian Stepan Shaumian, then the Commissar Extraordinary for the Caucasus, acknowledged that around 6,000 armed soldiers of the Baku Soviet and 4,000 from the Dashnak party participated in the killings.

The genocide extended beyond Baku, affecting regions including Shamakhi, Guba, Iravan, Zangezur, Garabagh, Nakhchivan, and Kars. In Guba Province alone, over 16,000 people were killed within the first five months of 1918, and 167 villages were destroyed. Mass graves discovered in Guba in 2007 serve as stark evidence of the atrocities.

The March 1918 massacres were a premeditated and systematic act of ethnic violence and cleansing carried out by radical Armenian nationalists against Azerbaijanis.

By Khagan Isayev