March 31, which is commemorated in the Republic of Azerbaijan as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, reflects the memory of the bloody massacre committed against Azerbaijanis in March 1918 by the Armenian gangs in Baku, Shamahi, Guba, Mughan and Lankaran.
On March 1998, 80 years after these unfortunate events, the national leader of Azerbaijan, Haydar Aliyev, signed a decree in order to attract the attention of the international public and to symbolize all the massacres against the Azerbaijanis in history. With this decree, March 31 was proclaimed as the Day of Genocide of the Azerbaijanis and the valuable memory of genocide victims will always be preserved in the minds Azerbaijani society. The Decree also signifies the Azerbaijani people’s devotion towards its national values, historical roots and homeland.
On this day of mourning, we commemorate with deep respect all the martyrs who lost their lives at this tragic events and we would like to reiterate that, we will strive with all our capacity to ensure stability, peace and tranquility in order  to prevent  occurrence of similar disastrous events.
 
Baghdad Amreyev
Secretary General of the Turkic Council