Precincts of Guba Uyezd. (179)

However, no “further proceedings” either on these files, or on other

cases instituted by the AHIC were ever conducted due to a very signifi-

cant political event. On January 11, 1920, the Supreme Council of Allied

States granted a unanimous de-facto recognition to the independent

Republic of Azerbaijan. This truly milestone event was followed by the

Amnesty Law adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan

on February 9, 1920. Pursuant to Section 2 of the law in question, all per-

petrators of “criminal offences motivated by ethnic hostility” prior to the

Law’s enactment were relieved from responsibility, whereas pursuant to

Section 10 all criminal cases instituted by the Ad Hoc Investigation Com-

mission were discontinued once and forever. (180)

Later that year, following the resolution of judicial bodies of the

Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, ‘the case of devastation of the

town of Guba and villages of Guba Uyezd” was dismissed in accordance

to the Law of February 9, 1920, and the files shelved in archives. (181)

Nonetheless, neither the Amnesty Law inspired by the recognition

of the national independence, nor the rapidly changing political situ-

ation in Transcaucasia in 1918-1921 rescued Amazasp Srvantsyan, the

major mastermind of Guba pogroms, from the punishment deserved.

Soon after the tragic events in Guba, “the hero of the Arme-

nian nation” Amazasp one more time proved his ability to “wage war”

against unarmed and innocent Muslim populations of Turkish, Kur-

dish, Azerbaijani, Lezghin and Tat and other origins. This is exactly

what he demonstrated in Kars, Van, Bitlis, Huzan, Zangazur, Baku and

Guba and other places.

Meanwhile, faced with the regular Turkish and Azerbaijani armed

forces advancing towards Baku, Amazasp withdrew his cavalry squad at

the very height of the fight when the fate of the Soviet regime in Baku

was at stake. Defecting the frontline at the most crucial moment, Ama-

zasp left G.K.Petrov, the Military Commissar of Baku District bewildered.

“I fail to understand how come the people claiming their willingness to

‘sacrifice their lives for the just cause of the people’ may ever act in such

a manner,” – Petrov telegrammed Shaumyan and Korganov on July 24,

1918, just a week before the Bolshevik power fell. (182)

Similar situation occurred two weeks prior to this event, during

the battle at Shemakha when all of a sudden Amazasp “fell a strong

stomachache”, so he mounted his horse and left the combat posi-

Events of 1918 in Guba in the Context of Plans for Mass Extermination

of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Population