March 31, commemorated in Azerbaijan as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, reflects the memory of the victims of the bloody massacre committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis in March 1918. 

After the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Baku and viewed the Armenian nationalist party of Dashnaksutyun as an ally to capitalize the situation on the ground The beginning of tragic March events, the Baku Soviet and Dashnaksutyun Party, under the pretext of combating counter-revolutionary elements, set about a plan to liquidate Azerbaijanis throughout the Baku Province. By the acknowledgements of Stephan Shaumyan, 6,000 armed soldiers of the Baku Soviet and 4,000 armed men from Dashnaksutyun Party took part in the massacre of Azerbaijani civilians. On March 30, Armenian-Bolshevik units subjected Baku to volley fire from ships. Then, armed Dashnaks attacked the homes of Azerbaijanis and carried out their merciless slaughter only because of their ethnicity. In this period, Armenian-Bolshevik units wiped out more than 20,000 Azerbaijani civilians in Baku. Genocide of the Azerbaijanis by the Dashnaks was not limited to Baku. Within a short period of time, Armenians committed massacres in Shamakhi, Guba, Irevan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Nakhchivan and Kars. As a result, more than 16,000 people were killed with utmost barbarity in the Guba province in the first five months of 1918; a total of 167 villages were destroyed, 35 of which do not exist to this day. Armenian forces also slaughtered local Jews in Guba.