Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims
76
an enormous esteem in the whole area. The grave of his grandfather
Ibrahim Efendi was a well-known shrine among the Muslim residents,
whereas his father and uncle Ismail Efendi and Abdul Vahab Efendi
were exiled to Siberia back in 1880 as “masterminds of muridism”
(a religious doctrine in the Caucasus suppressed in the Czarist Russia).
Ismayil Efendi died in exile whereas Abdul Vahab Efendi returned 17
years after. (201)
Hamdulla Efendi was also a public figure, known as a person
of high integrity that won him a great deal of respect among the
population, both Muslim and non. Throughout the period of chaos
and anarchy in the country, units of Hamdulla Efendi were keeping
law and order at Davachi Section, whereas during the Guba events of
1918, several hundreds of Hamdulla Efendi’s supporters together with
the Lezghin squads led by Mohubali Efendi and Khatam Agha were
trying their best to resist the Bolshevik and Armenian military forces.
Attempts to arrest Hamdulla Efendi immediately after the final
establishment of the Soviet regime in Azerbaijan triggered an anti-
Soviet revolt in the Uyezd in 1920-1921 “resulting in hundreds of lives
of the Red Army soldiers”. A while after these events, Hamdulla Efendi
hiding in the mountains, managed to get “rehabilitated” by the new
authorities and was issued “a mandate” to free and peaceful life.
Efforts by AzGPU to eliminate Hamdulla Efendi in 1920-1926 were
of no avail due to the population’s vigilance and the latter one’s “smart
policy”. Classified documents of that period refer to him as a very dan-
gerous figure for the Soviet regime: “Not a single peasant in Bighiji, Zigli,
Gendob, Ugah, Leyti, Lestjed and other villages in the area is actively
involved in cooperating with the authorities due to Efendiyev’s influ-
ence. Any elections may only be possible under Efendiyev’s instruction
and control. One will hardly meet any (Communist) party or Komsomol
member for Efendiyev does not allow this…”. (202)
No surprise, when a new wave of “elimination of counterrevolu-
tionary elements” was actively pursued by NKVD (the People’s Com-
missariat for Internal Affairs) all over former Soviet Union, with the
list of persons to be purged compiled, Hamdulla Efendi was the first
in the black list of Davachi District of the Soviet Socialist Republic of
Azerbaijan. In August 1927 he was arrested and convoyed to Baku
to face charges with gangsterism brought against him at the AzGPU
pursuant to Article 76 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan SSR.