March 31, 1918, is remembered as one of the bloodiest pages in Azerbaijan’s history. On this date, Armenian Dashnak armed groups, with the support of the Bolshevik regime, carried out a genocide against the peaceful Azerbaijani population in Baku and its surroundings. As a result of these events, thousands of Azerbaijanis were massacred, and homes and monuments were razed to the ground. The events were orchestrated by members of the Armenian "Dashnaktsutyun" party. The Bolsheviks, under the leadership of the "Baku Commune" leader Stepan Shaumyan, provided political and military support to the Armenian armed groups. Their goal was to expel Azerbaijanis from their lands and implement an ethnic cleansing policy in the region.

In March and April 1918, mass killings of Azerbaijanis took place in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Karabakh, Nakhchivan, and other regions. In Baku, within a short period, thousands of people, including women, children, and the elderly, were brutally murdered. More than 7,000 civilians were killed in Shamakhi. Excavations in the Guba region have uncovered mass graves, further confirming the scale of the genocide. These tragic events stemmed from Armenian nationalists' aspirations to create a "Greater Armenia" and their policy of expelling Azerbaijanis from their historical lands.

On March 26, 1998, with the decree of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, March 31 was declared the "Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis." Every year, this date is observed to inform the global community about the genocide committed against Azerbaijanis and to honor the memory of the martyrs. Recognizing this tragedy at the international level and promoting historical documents that confirm the genocide remain crucial. The Azerbaijani state and diaspora organizations continue to take consistent measures in this regard.

March 31 is an unforgettable tragedy in the history of the Azerbaijani people. It is the duty of every Azerbaijani to immortalize the memory of our compatriots who became martyrs in these events and to inform the world community about this tragedy.