Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims
186
I am the landlord of Alpan Community comprising 2 villages, i.e.
Alpan and Digah, both 8 versts away from Guba. The total number of
households in the Community is around 300. On May 1 this year, a
punitive squad manned exclusively by Armenians and led by some-
one Amazasp arrived at the town of Guba. The next day, a part of this
squad numbering about 500 attacked the village of Digah, got the
cannons and machine guns gained by local residents from the Bol-
sheviks as trophy, plundered the livestock and other personal assets,
set the village on fire and left. On the third day, they encircled the
village of Alpan from three sides. The residents had fled beforehand.
I also evacuated my family and stayed together with two servants
(nukers). Faced with the Armenian attack, we still managed to break
through and galloped away. In the course of chase the Armenians
opened fire. The horse of one of my nukers was injured in the neck.
An old man and woman incapable of fleeing with others left the vil-
lage of Alpan to follow me, however both were slain by the Arme-
nians. Besides these two, they killed four more persons in various
places, plundered lots of livestock, personal assets, and setting fire at
several households and the local mosque, the latter one nonetheless
survived.
In our village, the Armenians trampled down one girl, Pusta
Mammadbey gyzy, so she was unable to walk due to smashed legs.
Her mother Imame who decided to stay with her was murdered. As
Ghelovani, the former Commissar of Guba Uyezd, told me, the Ar-
menians devastated the village of Digah because of an Armenian girl
who had fallen in love with one Digah resident and escaped with him.
As far as Alpan village is concerned, it was plundered with a view to
neutralizing the place and preventing any possible support to the
Muslims of Guba should they ever make a revolt. I personally met and
talked to the injured girl Pusta who died 12 days after being woun-
ded. As she recalled while alive, one Armenian told her that the rea-
son of their atrocious treatment of the Muslims is because the Mus-
lims do the same to them. I never happened to watch the squad from
a close distance, so I had no chance to identify anyone personally.
Neither can I say anything about the Russians or the Jews as part of
the personnel. The damage inflicted to me by the Armenians includes
personal assets, golden works and wheat that they burned. The total
detriment is estimated at 150 thousand rubles in old exchange rate.