Khaibalikend massacre

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Khaibalikend massacre
LocationNagorno-Karabakh
DateJune 5–7, 1919
TargetArmenian civilians
Attack type
Massacre, pogrom
Deaths600–700[1]

The Khaibalikend massacre was the mass killing of Armenian civilians in the villages of

Khosrov bek Sultanov and led by his brother, Sultan bek Sultanov.[4][5][6]

Background

In January 1919, the commander of British forces in the Caspian General

Paris Peace Conference. Sultanov was an Azerbaijani of Kurdish origin known for his anti-Armenian views, and this decision was strenuously opposed by the Armenian population of Karabakh, led by the Karabakh's Armenian Council, which favored Nagorno-Karabakh's unification with the newly established Republic of Armenia. There was also opposition voiced by the Armenian government, as well as a number of American diplomats and relief officials working in the region, who cited Sultanov's past collaboration with the Ottoman armies that had occupied the area in 1918.[7]

On June 4–5, 1919, an armed Armenian–Azerbaijani clash took place in

Ganca.[8][9][10]

The massacre

Despite the harsh measures, Sultanov's attempts to subordinate Karabakh to Azerbaijan proved to be unsuccessful. The Armenian National Council of Karabakh remained resolute. As tensions rose, the condition of Armenian inhabitants of villages located near the Khankendi barracks was worsening. It was at that time when on June 5, 1919, Tatar (i.e. Azerbaijani) armed gangs under the command of Pasha bek Sultanov entered the Khaibalikend, Pahlul and Karkijahan villages.[6] About 700 people, mostly innocent civilians, were murdered in Khaibalikend alone. The three settlements were burned and dead bodies dumped into water wells.[11] Though Sultanov denied any wrongdoing, an investigation carried out by the British military concluded that he had instigated the massacres to take place.[12]

After the massacre

Later in 1919, Sultanov bolstered the size of the garrisons at Khankendi and continued to move his troops around, once more without the required consent of his administrative council.

Shosh and rejected the possibility of union with Azerbaijan, Sultanov sought to tighten his control of Karabakh: he forbade Armenians from leaving Shusha without permission, stationed Azerbaijani troops in Armenian homes, ordered Armenian veterans of the former Russian Army to register so that they may not partake in military activities, and drew up plans to destroy several Armenian villages to sever the link between Armenians in Karabakh and the region of Zangezur.[15]

The Khaibalikend Massacre proved to be a prelude to a much larger tragedy in Nagorno–Karabakh – the

Shusha pogrom in March 1920, in which the Tatar ("Azerbaijani") armed militants almost destroyed the Armenian half of the regional capital of Shusha.[7]

According to Christopher J. Walker, in Armenia and Karabakh, published by Minority Rights Group International, "Sites of special significance for modern Armenian history are also being destroyed; the ruins of Khaibalikend, where 600 Armenians were massacred in June 1919 are being demolished, including the church which was being used as a stable."[16]

References

  1. ISBN 9780203214473
    .
  2. ^ Hovannisian, Richard. The Republic of Armenia: Vol. I, The First Year, 1918–1919. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971, pp. 176–77, notes 51, 52.
  3. ^ (in Armenian) Vratsian, Simon. Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն (The Republic of Armenia). Paris: H.H.D. Amerikayi Publishing, 1928, pp. 286–87.
  4. ISBN 978-0-8147-1945-9
    .
  5. ^ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, Vol. I, p. 177.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9788885822092. Around mid - June, Sultanov gathered 2,000 ' irregular ' troops who attacked, sacked and burned a large Armenian village, Khaibalikend, a short distance from Shushi{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  7. ^ a b "Armenia: The Survival of a Nation", revised second edition, 1990, by Christopher J. Walker, page 270
  8. ^ The New York Times, Sept. 4, 1919. "Nurses stuck to post"
  9. ^ "Nagorno Karabagh in 1918–1920" Archived 2008-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Genocide Watch.GENOCIDE EMERGENCY: AZERBAIJAN IN ARTSAKH". gagrule.net. October 23, 2020. Azerbaijanis also slaughtered 1,000 Armenians in 1919-1920 in the Karabakh cities of Shusha and Khaibalikend
  11. ISBN 9781849045056
    .
  12. ^ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, Vol. I, p. 181.
  13. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. The Republic of Armenia, Vol. 3, From London to Sèvres, February–August 1920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996, pp. 139–140.
  14. ^ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, Vol. 3, p. 142.
  15. ^ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, Vol. 3, pp. 145–47
  16. ^ Walker, Christopher J. Armenia and Karabagh: The Struggle for Unity. Minority Rights Publications. p. 81.

Further reading

  • Saparov, Arsène (2012). "Why Autonomy? The Making of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region 1918–1925". Europe-Asia Studies. 64 (2): 281–323.
    S2CID 154783461
    .

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