More than once I had to hear later comments that in the “March days” of 1918, the Armenians mercilessly exterminated the Tatars. Fairness compels me to say that this is far from true.
As a result of the street fighting, many Armenians died, and among them many outstanding people, such as, for example, Dr. Leon Atabekyan, one of the leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the son of another prominent public figure and member of the Armenian National Committee G.B.Ter-Mikeliants, an officer who spent the whole war at the front, and many others whom I don’t remember now. About 3000 Tatars were rescued by the Armenians and interned for the duration of the events in the huge theater of the Mailov brothers, where they were fed and watered all the time. Among the Tatars rescued by the Armenians there were many representatives of the bourgeoisie and public figures, and even such an obvious Armenophobe as the engineer Beibut-Khan Jevanshir, one of the organizers and leaders of the mass beating of Armenians in September days of the same year, after the capture of Baku by the Turks and Azerbaijanis.
Who was the first to start hostilities on the memorable "March days"? I personally did not manage to find this out, and only those who were at the head of events at that time know this, but I believe that both sides - both the Bolsheviks and the Tatars - were equally irresistible towards the events.
It should be borne in mind that the Musavat party, after the national demarcation of Transcaucasia (but even before the official secession of the Transcaucasian republics from Russia, which followed a month later), considered Baku its national fiefdom and sought to occupy a dominant position in Baku. the Bolsheviks for the above reasons. The majority of Armenians gravitated towards Russia and it is characteristic that even here, in the Cadet Committee, orthodox cadets from among the Armenians held the point of view that in the Caucasus the Bolsheviks are doing the "Russian" cause. The majority of the Russian workers were already on the Bolshevik platform at that time; the rest of the Russian population, which clearly did not sympathize with Bolshevism, did not represent any effective force.
How great were the losses suffered by the Tatars during the "March days"? No official count has ever been made, and it would have seemed impossible in general. At first, the Tatars themselves named the number of killed and wounded at 6,000; I think that this figure was exaggerated under the influence of the horrors and fear endured. Therefore, the numbers that were later called - 15, 20 and more thousand - are clearly fantastic. In any case, it should be noted that both on the part of the Tatars and on the part of the Armenians there were many cases of atrocities: not only killed, but also outraged their victims, both.As a result of the street fighting, many Armenians died, and among them many outstanding people, such as, for example, Dr. Leon Atabekyan, one of the leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the son of another prominent public figure and member of the Armenian National Committee G.B.Ter-Mikeliants, an officer who spent the whole war at the front, and many others whom I don’t remember now. About 3000 Tatars were rescued by the Armenians and interned for the duration of the events in the huge theater of the Mailov brothers, where they were fed and watered all the time. Among the Tatars rescued by the Armenians there were many representatives of the bourgeoisie and public figures, and even such an obvious Armenophobe as the engineer Beibut-Khan Jevanshir, one of the organizers and leaders of the mass beating of Armenians in September days of the same year, after the capture of Baku by the Turks and Azerbaijanis.