In the beginning of the 20th century, Armenian nationalists began systematically to hound out Azeris from their ethnic lands. For this purpose they used all means – banishment, killings and genocide.
The first clashes between Azeris and Armenians, which during the period of revolutionary instability in the Russian Empire and tense relations between two nations, was incited with killing by the Armenian dashnaks of two peaceful Azeris on February 1905 in Baku leaped to Shusha, Zangezur, Erivan, Nakhichevan, Ordubad, Echmiadzin and to the Javanshir and Kazakh districts.
The governor of Ganja informed St. Petersburg on August 9, 1907: «approximately one thousand-strong army of zinvors (fighters) had been sent» against the villages of poor Azeris. «This army consists of refugees from Turkey and from almost all local rascals, who have only one business, killing people».
Unfortunately, we have too little information about the events of 1905, which became especially tragic for the Azeris of Armenia. The events of these years were falsified in the Armenian sources, truth was replaced with lie, and in the history of Azerbaijan these were forbidden themes during the Soviet period, therefore, we know very little about them. There are only a few documents of this period even in the Azerbaijan State Historical Archive.
Forbidden for reading for 80 years and written based on the historical documents the book by Mammad Said Ordubadi «Years of Blood» (1911) was dedicated to the events of 1905 and explains the reason of lack of historical literature and archive material for this period.
This book by Ordubadi is the invaluable chronicle of the genocide of Azeris in Armenia in 1905. The book is written based on the publications of that time, 245 letters received from the author’s contemporaries, who lived in various places of the Caucasus and private observations of the author. To give the reader objective information, Ordubadi studied the same question several times, repeatedly applied to his contemporaries, past participants and witnesses of the events.
The book is dedicated to the disorders in the Caucasus in 1905-1907, the period marked with first Russian revolution and rise of national movements in the places. It talks about the interethnic clashes, bloodshed and victims in Baku, Ganje, Nakhichevan, Karabakh, Kazakh, Zangezur, in the suburbs of Gekche (Sevan), Mehri and other places. Thus, wide reflection of the fights and clashes, which took place in various places of the Caucasus, gives full notion about the dynamics of the events and their geography.
The main conclusion, of all these bloody events is that the reason of all pogroms and provocations, collapse of peaceful life in the Caucasus was the delirious fantasies about «Greater Armenia», and the executor of this fantasy was the Armenian nationalistic party «Dashnaksutiun».
To feel deeper this truth and get more detailed information it is enough to read about the events in Erivan, Echmiadzin (Uchkilse), especially about the famous Zangezur events in Agrili-Gatar, Okchu-Shabadin or in Gatar.
Source: «Historical geography of the Western Azerbaijan» Baku 1998 (In Russian)