77
Given this very complex political situation, along with his co-be-
lievers, it was the population of the Armenian village of Kilvar, Davachi
District of Guba Uyezd, that stood at Hamdulla Efendi’ defense. Files
of Hamdulla Efendi’s case include an address signed by 91 Armenian
peasants, residents of the village named above. The letter reads: “On
this 19th day of August, year of 1927, we, the undersigned citizens of
Kilvar village do hereby confirm that resident of Kalaghe village Ham-
dulla Efendiyev has been always kind to us, residents of Kilvar village,
and did nothing but good to us, i.e. in 1905 during the time of unrest,
he always advised the neighboring villages to live in piece with us, thus
preventing any possible disturbances. In 1918-1920, again, he never al-
lowed anyone to do anything neither to us, nor to our assets, as well a
never did he ever foster ethnic hostilities between us and our neighbors.
All of the actions mentioned above he committed out of innocence with
no mercenary motives whatsoever. This is what we, the undersigned, ask
to take into consideration with our signatures hereby enclosed”. (203)
Most of the 91 signatures following this address were made in Arme-
nian. (The copy of the document is enclosed in the book).
What is really notable is that the Armenian residents of Kilvar
village did not confine themselves to just signing the document but
asked the Chairman of the Village Soviet to certify their signatures
with the seal. Their request was granted. (204)
Meanwhile, the story of the letter had a follow-up. The inves-
tigation, obviously perplexed by both the letter itself, and the active
response of the Armenian population, interviewed Ambartsum Am-
bartsumov, the Chairman of the Kilvar Village Soviet, regarding not
only the compilation of the letter but its certification with a seal by an
official of his level of authority. And here is quite a remarkable piece
of the interview indeed: according to A.Ambartsumov’s testimony,
once he refused to sign such a “Sentence regarding Hamdulla Efen-
di’s good behavior…the population of Kilvar village presented him a
signed note according to which the villagers undertook responsibility
for the consequences instead of the Village Soviet”. (205)
Of course, this letter could not affect the ultimate fate of Ham-
dulla Efendi. On March 4, 1928, he was charged with “criminal offen-
ces against the administration and the Soviet social system, and the
involvement in gangsterism”. On July 17, 1928 he was sentenced by
the AzGPU panel “the extreme measure of social protectio, i.e. execu-
Events of 1918 in Guba in the Context of Plans for Mass Extermination
of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Population