In 1919, Artsakh was declared an indivisible part of Armenia by the decisions of the 4th and 5th Artsakh Armenian Congresses. The Musavati authorities, who were closely linked to the Young Turks and Sultanov, who was personally appointed governor, fully adopted the Young Turks’ attempt to exterminate the Armenians. In Artsakh and especially in Shushi, they tried to repeat the steps of the Armenian genocide almost identically. With such actions, the Young Turk regime in the Ottoman Empire and the Musavat authorities in Artsakh tried to divide the Armenian population and deprive it of the possibility of self-organization and defense during mass killings. On March 20, Sultanov gave the Armenians three days to hand over their weapons. On the morning of March 22, the Azerbaijani army began to search the houses of the Armenians in Shushi. 

In the name of disarmament, a new massacre of Shushi Armenians began. On March 23, under the leadership of Sultanov and Turkish officers, Tatar soldiers, Kurdish thugs and a crowd of Muslim fanatics entered the Armenian quarter of Shushi and began to massacre the civilian population, not sparing women, old people and children. Shushi was almost completely burnt down. The remnants of Shushi Armenians who survived death, numbering 5-6,000 people, fled to Varanda and Dizak.

Here, in 3 days, 7,000 houses were destroyed and burned, and according to some sources, 12,000 people were massacred.

The Government of Western Armenia recalls that the indigenous peoples have always been the subjects of genocide and fragmentation. Therefore, we declare that we are the continuation of the Armenian state of Nubar Pasha. Taking this opportunity, we express once again that the authorities in Baku have not changed their true face even by a hair’s breadth. We remind you that before you there is an indigenous nation with its own face, culture and statehood, which is thousands of years old