ARMENIAN CONSPIRACY

After the Armenian-Azerbaijani or the Armenian-Tatar and Armenian- Muslim clashes, as they were referred to at the time, in Baku and the Baku province in 1905, local and regional authorities attempted to take measures to prevent further deterioration of relations between the two nations. However, the Armenian elite living in Baku, while advocating "brotherhood" in word, was actually preparing for new murders and massacres against the Azerbaijanis. The massacre of 1918 was still far off, but as events show, the preparations for it began immediately after the conflict of 1905. This is clearly evidenced both by the press of the early 20th century and archive documents.

It should be noted that acts of terrorism, attacks on high-ranking officials and extortion under the threat of death and other crimes have always been in the arsenal of the Armenian nationalists in Baku and the provinces with a predominantly Azerbaijani population - Yelisavetpol and Erivan.

Thus, in May 1905, the governor of Baku, Prince Nakashidze, was assassinated. The bomb thrown towards a chaise in which Nakashidze was traveling killed the governor, his bodyguard, the driver and two passersby. The attack was carried out by Simon Vialyants, Grigoriy Meyramov, Petros Sakhakyants and Leon Arutyunov.

Further bold attempts were made in 1907. These included a failed attempt on the head of the detective police force, Levikov, as the bomb thrown at him did not explode. The police took the bomb to the city quarries where it was blown up. Nationalists were more successfully in their attempts on the Balaxani-Sabuncu police chief, Lt-Col Pestov, and the sergeant of the 7th Baku district, Cpt Rikhter. Also in 1907, the nationalists killed the chief of the postal and telegraph office of Baku, Sinelnikov, the workshop manager of the partnership of Nobel brothers, Tauson, agents of the secret police Yakovlev and Degtyarev, and detective Korneyev. In all of these cases the authorities failed to track down and punish the killers. On 30 August, the head of the Absheron oil company, O. S. Dembot, was stabbed with a dagger. This time the assassin was arrested - he introduced himself as Lankard Vartanyants.

At the same time, the Armenians actively stocked weapons. For example, the inspection of the luggage of Kevork Tumasov, who arrived in Baku from Krasnovodsk on "Skobelev" steamer, revealed 536 pieces of live ammunition for a three-linear rifle and two pounds of gunpowder. All of this was hidden inside an accordion.

Brothers Ovanes and Aleksandr Markosovs, also known as Palikovs, were detained at the railway station when trying to smuggle a strong bursting shell from Baku to Erivan. Even priests were preparing for future confrontations. In Yelisavetpol, vicar Archimandrite Koryun and four Armenian bodyguards were arrested. Discovered in the priest's house were two Mauser guns, bullets and photos of members of the Dashnaktsutyun military organization. Priests of the Armenian Gregorian Church in Shusha, Karegin Ioanesyants, Karapet Vartapetyants, Arseniy Akhumyants, as well as acolyte Krikoryants, who were put on trial in the city, openly stated at the trial that 23 bombs stored at the altar of the church were intended for use in the event of collisions between the Armenians and the Muslims.

Robbery, murder and money extortion under threat of murder were also carried out by the Dzheyranovs brothers Yakov and Ivan. To do this, they "established" a criminal organization called the "Party of Anarchists Black Crow" and acted on its behalf. Ivan Dzheyranov was well known to the authorities for involvement in a high-profile crime committed in 1899. Then, together with his accomplices, he killed a cashier of the Loan Bank of Persia, Shabunin, in Tehran and stole more than 255,000 rubles and about 25,000 tumans from the bank. The crime was solved, Dzheyranov arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. But not after serving even half of the term, he came to Baku ... The "black crow" of the Dzheyranovs nestled not somewhere on the outskirts of the city, but in the heart of the capital, in the house of the famous millionaire brothers Ivan, Daniil, and Ilya Mailovs located on the intersection of Great Sea and Telephone Streets (now the intersection of Bul-Bul Avenue and 28 May Street - Ed.).

Money extortion from wealthy individuals of Baku was also carried out by the "Baku terrorist group" which included Moses Martirosov, Grigoriy Shakhatugov and Hayk Arushanyan. This group was disbanded when trying to "knock out" 2,500 rubles from the comptroller of the excise department, G. Khanakov. The backbone of the "Baku Party of Maximalists", which was engaged in "collecting money for the needs of the revolution", was made up of Arshak Sarkisov and Semen Kalustov. They were arrested while trying to extort 8,000 rubles from Baku resident Shpanin. It is interesting that the extortionists held talks with him on the phone located in the room of the Baku Armenian Philanthropic Society, which operated under the guise of a "charity".

Due to the start of World War II in 1914, the smuggling of weapons into the Caucasus reached its highest point. In June 1916, the Chief of the Baku provincial gendarmerie, Col Severinovsky, wrote in a report to the Caucasus governor: "The mass importation of arms and ammunition to the Caucasus was sparked off by the Armenian Revolutionary Party "Dashnaktsutyun" in an effort to arm its combat units ... According to statistics, Baku is a centre for secret trade in weapons and ammunition in the Caucasus. It has been established that this trade is mainly carried out by the Armenians, both local and those from Shusha". The colonel even names the main buyers of weapons in Baku. He says these are Vahan Melik-Askerov, Murad (aka Vartan) Alakhverdov, Akop Kasparyants and Movses Osipov.

Sometimes the local police managed to detect weapon caches. For example, one of such caches was found in the house of the Ter-Akopovs in Telephone Street (now 28 May Street - Ed.). An apartment in the house was rented by Sarkis Martirosov, Giegoriy Pogosov and Egizaryan. Several boxes in this apartment and in the basement of the house contained rifles and revolvers with ammunition. The biggest "catch" of the police was produced by a search in the basement of the house on the intersection of Telephone and Railway Station Streets. The house belonged to Matevos, Mikhail, Leon and Vladimir Tsaturovs. In the courtyard there was a room which, as the brothers told the police, was inhabited by a janitor. The police demanded to open the door of the room, but the brothers resisted. They had to break the door. Inside was a door leading into the basement.

When examining the basement, the police found an arsenal of weapons: 10 rifles and 13 pistols, about 400 kg of ammunition, up to 100 kg of detonating jelly which was used in making bombs, five boxes with daggers, forms for molding bombs, detonating cord coils and a lot more for the implementation of explosions, assassinations and killings. The trial of the Tsaturovs took place in November 1913. All of them were sentenced to four years in prison.

 Despite all the efforts of law enforcement authorities of the time, they failed to prevent the events of March 1918...