DOCUMENT CONFIRMING THAT STEPAN SHAUMYAN WAS NOT SHOT IN AGJAGUM IN 1918 FOUND

Today.Az
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Feb 4 2009
Azerbaijan

The document confirming that head of Baku Commissars Stepan Shaumyan
was a prisoner of war in March, 1919, it was stated at the Scientific
Council of the History Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of
Sciences, APA reports.

Director of History Institute Yagub Mahmudov gave information about
the excavations carried out in Sahil Park on January 24-26. According
to him, the document found in the National Archive contains the
information sent by head of Georgian government to the representative
of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on March 8, 1919.

"26 Baku commissars were shot on September 20, 1918. The document
writes that Stepan Shaumyan was a prisoner of war," he said.

The full text of the document found in the archive is as follows:
"Mr. representative of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic! Our
representative says the following to the head of government with letter
#894 on February 26: Tbilisi radio station recorded a telegram sent
from Astrakhan to Sokolov. The telegram is connected with the exchange
of POWs. The telegram writes that the issue on exchanging the captured
member of the allies mission with Stepan Shaumyan and other POWs,"
he said. The telegram ends with the words: "See in Baku soon."

Yagub Mahmudov said the document was very important. The director of
the institute said he had given instructions to the employees of the
institute to identify Sokolov.

He said it was noted in the Baku Soviet (Council) archive document
that Armenian government allocated 150 thousand rubles in 1934 for
construction of "26" monument in Krasnovodsk. "These facts prove that
Armenia always tried to entangle the "26" history. Our first researches
show that a huge work was done in Moscow for entangling this case".

Mahmudov said ages of persons introduced as 26 Baku commissars in
the historic books coincided with that 23 bodies found in the grave
were between 20 and 50. "11 of 23 bodies found in Sahil (Seaside)
Park were at 20-29, 11 were at 30-39, one – at 40-49. It was found
out that two of three missed persons were at 40-49 and one was at
30-39 as a result of confronting them with the list of 26.

It was seen from the list that there were three among 26 at age above
39: Shaumyan (40), Azizbayov (42) and Amiryan (45). After researching
the photo-materials, the experts did not rule out that the body of
person at this age was Azizbayov’s".

Director of the institute said mass media issued mass wrong reports
about "26". "Some newspapers even published materials taken from
the Soviet Encyclopedia, which creates wrong idea about the 26,
who were executioners committed genocide against the Azerbaijani
People. "Founding not 26, but 23 bodies in the Sahil Park showed
that the history was falsified. It is not correct to introduce "26"
as "26 Baku commissars". We have a list of 12 commissars only".

Pictures of exhumation of graves in Sahil Park, expertise and burying
the remains of 23 bodies in the city cemetery were shown at the end
of the Scientific Council.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress