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coming to power of Pavel the fi rst resulted in withdrawal of Rus-
sian troops form the Caucasus, and thus there was a break in oc-
cupation until 1801. (10) 
Att ack of Russian troops to Jar-Balaken in March 1803 and oc-
cupation of Gandja in January 3, 1804 brought about expansion of 
aggressive policy of the Tsarist regime in Azerbaij an.
Tsar Russia brought Shamakhi khanate to dependence on the 
basis of agreement dated December 27, 1805. According to the 
agreement Shamakhi khanate had to give 8000 chervon (Russian 
currency of the time) to the Russian treasury. 
Aft er 1804–1813 the fi rst,1826–1828 the second Russian-Iranian 
wars Russian occupation of northern Azerbaij an and sett lement of 
Armenians in this territory led to further tragedies. 
In accordance with the Turkmenchay agreement (February 10, 
1828), singed as the consequence of the second Russian–Iranian 
war, Armenians, coming from Iran and Turkey, were sett led  in 
diff erent regions of northern Azerbaij an, including in Shamakhi 
pertinent to Russian imperial policy. The main target of the sett le-
ment of Armenians in the villages Sagiyan, Meyseri, Kalakhana, 
Zarkhı of Shamakhi was to control Muslim population with help 
of Armenians. On the basis of this policy Malakans from Russian 
central regions were sett led in six villages of Shamakhi.
At the beginning of the XIX centuryArmenians constituted 
9.37% of the population, whereas at the outset of XX century it 
reached 32.6%. Approximately in 100 years the number of Ar-
menians in northern Azerbaij an, including the territory of Iravan 
khanate increased 24 times and reached 1,211,145 persons in 1916. 
(11) 
As to the writing of N.N. Shafrov, one million Armenians out of 
one million three hundred thousand living in Transcaucasia did 
not belong to local residents and they were inhabited by us. (12) 

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Earthquakes erupted in diff erent periods, specifi cally in 1191, 
1667, 1856, 1859, 1861, 1872 and 1902 resulted in numerous hu-
man losses and destructions. 1902 earthquake brought about 200 
human losses, 16 000 remained homeless, 4000 houses, 6 mosques 
were destroyed and market place was burnt. Hostile att itude of 
Tsar regime to local Muslim population was noticeable. Merely 
3 doctors and nurse rendered assistance to 16000 residents, sur-
vived the earthquake. Having understood that the government 
would not provide any help, the residents embarked the rescue 
operations by themselves, and even rescued a-12 year old resident 
Ummi Muslim aft er the ninth day of the earthquake. (13) 
With the instigation of Tsarist secret police department, Muslim 
bloodshed was committ ed by Armenians in Baku in 1905-1906 (6-9 
February, 1905) and in other regions, while a serious confrontation 
was not encountered in Shamakhi. Despite this, the Armenians 
in Shamakhi rendered all kinds of fi nancial assistance to crimi-
nals who killed Muslims in Tbilisi, Kazakh, Ganja, Shusha, and in 
Jabrayil. 
The Russian Consul in the Ott oman Empire V.Mayevsky has 
writt en about the bloody events of the time: “in this period (1904-
1906) weakening of Russian authority, sometimes its absence, was 
noticeable everywhere…the events taken place in eastern Trans-
caucasia might have happened as an outcome of “criminal activ-
ity of the government” and criminal activity of “Dashnakstun”, 
which is the main organizer of turmoil.” (14) 
The Tsarist Russian policy pursued in Azerbaij an “divide and 
rule” not only stirred hatred between Armenians and Muslims, 
but also instigated hostility among Muslims. To this end, Shia 
school was established in December 13, 1847 in Tbilisi, where-
as Sunni school was founded in January 15, 1849. The so-called 
“Ali” school, “Omar” school network was expanded in Shamakhi, 

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Guba, Sheki and other cities soon aft erwards. Criticizing the Tsar-
ist policy, U. Hajibeyov wrote in “Irshad” newspaper in 1907: “the 
Russian government…above all closed our eyes, and aft erwards 
determined appointment of Sheykhulislam (head of the religious 
institution), establishment of “Omar” school and “Ali” school, 
which further expanded the gap between Shiis and Sunnis”. (15) 
The existence of non-confi dence of the Tsarist regime to Azer-
baij anis was also encountered in the fact that Azerbaij anis  were 
not enrolled into the army. This in fact brought about inability of 
using ammunition and put them in a vulnerable situation during 
the turmoil. In this regard M. E. Rasulzade wrote “one of the great 
damages imposed on Azerbaij ani Turks by the Tsarist regime was 
the deprivation of their enrollment in the military service. By do-
ing this the tsarist regime wanted to marginalize the Turks”. (16) 
As the consequence of imperial policy of the Tsarist Russia and 
the Soviet Russia and instigation between nations and religions 
and their ultimate destruction horrible crimes were committ ed by 
Armenians towards Azerbaij anis in 1918.
The result of the elections held to the Baku Soviet in October 
22. 1917 and to the Assembly in Transcaucasia in November26-28, 
1917 proved that Bolsheviks did not have any strong public sup-
port in the South Caucasus. Even the Bolsheviks, who took power 
in Baku with false pledges, could not possess complete control 
over the city until the March events in 1918. They could not stop 
the activity of the city Duma and of National Council, could not 
disarm national troops and break the resistance of bourgeoisie. 
The Baku Soviet set a goal to remove “Musavat” party in order to 
take the real power in the city. For this reason the Baku Soviet in-
creased its pressure on Muslim population that backed this party 
and thus it used Armenians in implementing this policy. 
In January–March, 1918 Armenian nationalist parties enhanced 

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