TODAY.AZ / Politics

Associate Dean of Simon Wiesenthal Center visits Genocide Memorial Complex

29 September 2016 [15:19] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Rashid Shirinov

Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of the U.S., Rabbi Abraham Cooper has visited Azerbaijan’s Guba region.

Head of Guba Region’s Executive Power Yashar Mammadov informed Abraham Cooper about Guba and its traditions.

The guest visited the Red Settlement (Girmizi Gesebe) which is regarded as the village of Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan. Abraham Cooper then familiarized himself with two synagogues and the cultural center in the region.

He also went to Guba Genocide Memorial Complex and the mass graveyard. Abraham Cooper was told that the mass graveyard was found on April 1, 2007 during excavation works. Later, workers of the Archeology and Ethnography Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences held extensive researches which revealed that the graveyard related to the genocide committed in 1918 by Armenians against civilians of Azerbaijan.

The guest was informed that the Complex was opened on September 18, 2013 by the support of Heydar Aliyev Foundation. After familiarization, Rabbi Abraham Cooper signed the guestbook of the Complex.

The previous day, Rabbi Abraham Cooper was received by President Ilham Aliyev.

The genocide of 1918 against the civilian population was conducted almost on the entire territory of Azerbaijan. More than 50,000 of Azerbaijani citizens became victims of Armenian fascism in a matter of five months.

Azerbaijanis were exposed to genocide in Baku, the Guba province, Shamakhi, Gusar, Erivan, Nakhchivan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Lankaran and many other Azerbaijani lands.

In 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic established a special investigation commission. The commission began to operate, but after the collapse of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1920, it was eliminated.

Though this date was essentially forgotten during the Soviet times, relevant investigations on the tragedy were carried out and books were published after Azerbaijan gained independence from the USSR in 1991.

National leader Heydar Aliyev issued a decree on March 26, 1998 to commemorate March 31 as the Day of Azerbaijanis' Genocide.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/154648.html

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