September Days

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The September Days refers to a period during the Russian Civil War during September 1918 when ethnic Armenians were massacred by Enver Pasha's Army of Islam supported by local Azeri forces when they captured Baku, Azerbaijan.^[1]^[2] An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 ethnic Armenians were killed in the violence.^[3] ^[2] The massacre was in retaliation for the earlier March Days, in which Dashnak and Bolshevik forces massacred Azerbaijani inhabitants of the city in March 1918. ^[2]

The Turks surrounded Baku and, after the British had retreated, the Azerbaijani Muslims entered the city and avenged the massacre of the ‘March Days’ ^[4] slaughtering some 9,000 to 10,000 Armenians ^[5].

[edit] Austrian testimony

Austrian ambassador to Germany, Hohenlohe, to Austrian foreign minister burian:

“

According to reports, 'Turkey wants to annex the Caucasus entirely and exterminate the Armenians with all means available and bloodbaths are the order of the day.'

”

Vice Marshal Pomiankowski, the Austrian military attaché and plenipotentiary in Turkey, stated to the chief of the Austrian general staff, "In such a case we would be forced not only to protect the Armenians in the Caucasus against massacre but also against hunger..." ^[6]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Human Rights Watch. "Playing the 'Communal Card': Communal Violence and Human Rights"
^ ^a ^b ^c Croissant. Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict, p. 15.
^ Human Rights Watch. "Playing the 'Communal Card': Communal Violence and Human Rights"
^ Part II – The Azerbaijan Republic Peter Symes
^ In The Baku Commune 1917-1918 (page 337) Suny states that ‘Estimates of the number killed range from nine to thirty thousand.’
^ The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus By Vahakn N. Dadrian - Page 352