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From the end of March 1918, a horrific act of genocide against Azerbaijanis was carried out by Armenians across various regions of Azerbaijan. Tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis and members of other peoples were brutally killed.

The genocide was carried out with particular cruelty in Baku, Shamakhi, Quba, Karabakh, Zangezur, Nakhchivan, Lankaran, and other areas of Azerbaijan. In these territories, peaceful populations were massacred, villages were burned, and cultural monuments were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people were forcibly displaced from their lands.

The March genocide was given legal and political recognition by national leader Heydar Aliyev. On March 26, 1998, he signed a decree “On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis.” Since then, March 31 has been officially observed as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

At the National Library of Azerbaijan, to inform the global community about the crimes committed by Armenian aggressors, an electronic information database titled “March 31 – Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis” and a virtual exhibition titled “March 31 – The Genocide That Cannot Be Erased from Our Historical Memory” have been made available online.

The electronic database includes the following sections: “Unforgettable Tragedy”, “Official Documents”, “Prominent Figures on the March Genocide”, “Chronology of Events”, “Political-Legal Assessment”, “Bloody History of Mass Repressions”, “Books”, “Articles”, “Filmography”, and “Genocide in Memory.” All materials are presented in full text. Users can explore the database at https://anl.az/soyqirim/.

The virtual exhibition presents official documents on the March 31 Genocide, the tragic results of attacks carried out by Armenian-Bolshevik armed groups in Baku, Shamakhi, and villages in Shamakhi, Goychay, and Javad districts—including the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians, destruction of Azerbaijani architectural monuments, mosques, residential areas, villages, industrial facilities, schools, hospitals, and other public and commercial properties. It also features articles published in periodicals, books in Azerbaijani and foreign languages, and photographs documenting the events. The virtual exhibition can be accessed at https://anl.az/el/vsb/31_Mart_Soyqirimi/index.htm.