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Genocide of Azerbaijanis in fiction

30-03-2023 [ 12:08 ] [ read:24 ]
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In the centuries-long history and tumultuous destiny of our people, there have been many painful, knotty moments, tragic and calamitous moments. One of them is the mass extermination action carried out with unprecedented cruelty against Azerbaijani Turks in March 1918 in the cities of Baku, Shamakhi, and soon after in Guba, with the help of nationalist adventurers, hired killers and political racketeers. In political circles, there were those who called this massacre "murder", "genocide", "genocide" against the people of Azerbaijan, and those who called it "counter-revolutionary uprising", "class struggle", "civil war" in an unobjective and wrong way, and the Azerbaijani government's 15 Numerous, rich documents, materials, witness statements collected and formalized by the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry created by the decision of July 1918 are an arsenal of undeniable arguments and facts confirming the genocide. despite the indisputable facts and evidence, the March 1918 genocide of Azerbaijanis was invisible during the 70-year period of "Red Darkness" (A. Huseynzade). Despite all the efforts of the Soviet censorship apparatus, the works dedicated to the genocide of Azerbaijanis survived the waves of moral terror and "lived" after the restoration of our independence. It should be taken into account that when the first mass massacre epidemic of Armenians against Azerbaijanis covered the whole of Azerbaijan in 1905-1906, Mir Mohsen Navvab wrote "Armenian-Muslim conflict in 1905-1906" and Mammad Said Ordbadi wrote a national book called "Bloody Documents". they laid the foundations of the memorial monuments. In later tragedies, this tradition was developed, and historical events found a wide and comprehensive embodiment in fiction. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that all the artistic works that we obtained and collected information about were written in the heat of the moment after the March Incident, and their authors were witnesses and victims of the genocide action. Jafar Jabbarli, one of the well-known writers, was attacked by Armenian gangs with his family. He hid women, children and the elderly in a shelter called "snow barn" because he was walking in a place called "Geyran Garden", a little above his house. A day later, while taking his mother Shahbika, cousin Sona, elder brother Huseyngulu's daughters and neighbors out of the city in order to take them to a safer place - Khiziya, they were hit by a hail of bullets before they reached the cliff, as a result of which their neighbor Mashadi Abdulkarim was seriously injured, and the family members escaped the nightmare of death by accident. . Critic, proselytizer, journalist Seyid Huseyn wrote that "I was surrounded by Armenian soldiers in a neighborhood not far from Ismailliya building during the March events... I could hear the crackle of machine guns and the roar of cannons" ("Istiqlal" newspaper, 1335, February 4). Among the 4,000 Azerbaijanis whom the Armenian gangs arrested and kept in the Mailov theater for 3 days and wanted to burn, was the great playwright Huseyn Javid. The bloody action was not carried out as a result of the self-defense units finding out about the bad intentions of the Armenians and interfering in the incident. The closest relatives and friends of the well-known poet, prose writer and pedagogue Haji Salim Sayyah were victims of the March tragedy. It is known to the readers that Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Muhammad Hadi, Mirza Bala Mahammadzade, Ibrahim Khalil and other artists, intellectuals, people of words were witnesses of the March tragedy and wrote works of various styles. The March genocide of 1918, despite being young, had a special place in Jafar Jabbarli's creativity. He also wrote a dirge entitled "Stop, O poor nation" to commemorate the victims of the March tragedy, who were buried mainly in the Chambarekand cemetery (now Shahidlar Khiyaban). Dervishes, mostly young people, recited this lament on the seven and forty days of the martyrs in mosques and in the streets in order to shed tears for the innocent victims, but in fact to call the people to mobilize against the masked enemy: Gulzari - the motherland has faded, the nation has become desolate, everyone has become paymal, Stop, oh the poor nation. On one side, the executioner, On the other side, moaning and crying, Be free from this oppression, Stop, O oppressed nation. Give up this humiliation, Free yourself from this slavery, Get rid of this shame, Stop, O disgraced nation. Although the poem was written to be read at mourning ceremonies, it has a deep social content. In his poem, the author calls on the "harried nation" to stand up, mobilize and fight against the "executioners", Armenian terrorists and their patrons, to be freed from oppression and slavery. He calls his people to wake up from "whining and crying", to get tired of being "payimal", and to protect their rights and honor against the bloodthirsty and thugs who are fed up with the "kharizar" of the Motherland and the nation. Although 85 years have passed since it was written, the work still sounds relevant today. Another valuable work of art dedicated to the same theme by J. Jabbarli is his story "Ahmed and Gumru". It tells about the pure and sublime love, sweet dreams of two young people who are close friends - Ahmed and Gumru, about being worthy of each other with high morals, and about the misfortunes that the March tragedy brought to these innocent people. The author meets Ahmed and Gumru, whose parents were killed by Armenian robbers and whose houses were destroyed, in front of the Ismailiyya building, whose "big windows have turned to black coals, golden walls are covered with mourning", and "the magnificent Ismailiyya building, which looks like a head skeleton with its flesh thrown off." The two lovers, who have become unrecognizable in the grip of tragedy and deprivation, "I am wounded, I am crippled, I am a prisoner of Shamakhi", - although they are happy to meet each other because of their pleas, they do not hug each other, or rather, they cannot hug each other. Because the Armenian barbarians cut off their arm. The story instills the reader's anger and hatred against brutality, barbarism, and cruelty, as well as instills a sense of sympathy for truth and justice. Although the text has not been found to this day, it is clear from the poster and newspaper information that the first scenes of Jafar Jabbarli's 5-act, 7-picture drama called "The Baku War" talk about the March tragedy and the unimaginable horrors committed in Baku. In the 246th issue of "Basirat" newspaper, dated September 13, 1919, a brief announcement about this stage work was written: "On the 20th of Zulhajja, on September 16, at the Azerbaijan State Theater, with the participation of the actors of the Baku Turkish stage, under the patronage of the artist Abbas Mirza Sharifzade On the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the liberation by the heroic Turkish army after the March events in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, the drama "Baku War" written by our young poet and editor Jafar Jabbarzade will be staged. The oppression of Muslims will be shown." In another announcement, it is stated that the masked, sly Stepan Shaumyan and other Armenians in "Baku War" were professionally created by the author. The March massacres have a special place in the work of Mirza Bala Mahammadzade (1898-1959), Jafar Jabbarli's close friend, fellow student, colleague in the parliament during the Republic. He, like his friend Jafar Jabbarli, dedicated the first scenes of his "War for Baku" tragedy to the March genocide. It was Mirza Bala Mahammadzade who called the Baku tragedy for the first time by its own name - murder-am - that is, the murder of the general, genocide, and showed the real criminals. He wrote: "March 31, 1918 to you. Today... Blood was shed in Baku, houses were looted, our ancestors were martyred, our mothers and sisters were captured. Today, the people of Baku were killed, enslaved and condemned in their homeland. Today "The oil fountains flowing around Baku have turned into fountains of blood. Today, the Guzgun Sea washing the shores of Baku has turned into a sea of blood. Today, the Shaumyans, Sukhartsyevs... turned to the Dashnak forces to kill the awakened Turkish self... and created bloody days that will not be forgotten." Mirza Bala Mahammadzade "Açıg soz", "Ganjlar yurdu", "Insight", "Istiqlal", "Azerbaijan" and others. regularly appeared in magazines and newspapers with scientific, journalistic, literary and artistic works. The story "Anti-revolutionaries" published by him in the magazine "Ganjlar yurdu", the first issue of which was published in Tiflis on July 23, 1918, is very interesting and instructive, besides talking about the March massacre. The hero of the five-part story "Counter-Revolutionaries" is "Huseyn Bey, an Azerbaijani Turk" who studied at the Moscow Darulfunun, and who, according to Huseyn Bey, wants freedom and independence. Turkish youths from Azerbaijan, Turkestan, Tatarstan, and Crimea are really counter-revolutionaries. In order to create a complete picture of Huseyn Bey, the author describes a terrible scene from the Baku massacre that he witnessed: "Baku was going through exciting days. The city was on fire. The bombardment of steamships with the sound of machine guns, cannons, rifles, bullets, the screams of the people, the cries of children, women and girls. The sighing was reminiscent of a monster. The dead, the burning, the running, the screaming, the destroying, the cutting, the cutting were mixed together." Huseyn Bey, who does not regret this excruciating calamity, calls the innocent victims of the genocide "counter-revolutionaries" without shame. The great satirist poet Mirza Alakbar Sabir pointed out this type of "education" to the people at the beginning of the 20th century. In the image of Mirza Bala Huseyn Bey, the type of "educated" who denies his nationality and culture, hates his religion, dislikes his parents, is far from national fanaticism, and has been created with great skill. As long as there are Huseyn beys in the society, there will be those who call "genocide" "class struggle", "invasion", "independence", "patriot", "counter-revolutionary".