somehow passed detour Guba Uyezd. The local Armenian population,

rather small in size, was far from being aggressive then, whereas the

Azerbaijani population of both Guba and adjacent villages, way more

numerous, succeeded to resist the sentiments of hatred and revenge,

quite prevalent in those days both among the Azerbaijanis and the

Armenians all over Transcaucasia.

World War I followed by two revolutions in 1917, drastically

changed political situation in the Russian Empire, also affecting rela-

tively stable and regular life in Guba Uyezd. Peaceful change of power

in the district stirred up certain political activity among some repre-

sentatives of urban and rural elite, whereas majority of the population

remained passively observant.

***

News of the February Revolution in Petrograd (that-time name

of St.Petersburg) followed by the formation of the Provisional Go-

vernment reached Tiflis (the then name of Tbilisi), the administrative

center of Transcaucasia, on March 15, 1917. In the attempt to retain

control over South Caucasus, on March 22, 1917, the Provisional Go-

vernment established the

Special Committee for Transcaucasia (OZA-

COM)

comprising members of the

State Duma

(The Czarist Russian

legislature). However, with no real power and isolated from the pe-

riphery,

OZACOM

was incapable to manage the situation. This left

the actual power in Transcaucasia in the hands of various revolutio-

nary organizations. Benefiting from the existing situation, the Social

Democrats were trying their best to consolidate their influence all

over the region.

On March 19, 1917,

the Soviet of Worker Deputies

was estab-

lished in Baku actively claiming to replace the former power struc-

tures and assume the functions of the supreme authority. Meanwhile,

there was another local administrative body established along with

this Soviet, i.e.

the Executive Committee of Public Organizations

. The

Committee based on totally different grounds comprised representa-

tives of all ethnic parties and groups.

Similar situation with new power structures was observed in the

countryside areas, Guba Uyezd among them. On March 6, 1917, the

Public Organizations’ Executive Committee comprising local officials,

landowners and clergy was formed in Guba, chaired by Alexander

Janturashvili, the local taxation inspector. (22) Alibey Zizikski, one of

Events of 1918 in Guba in the Context of Plans for Mass Extermination

of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Population