Based on the documents of the “Union of Compatriotic Associations” of Tiflis
After the outbreak of World War I, first in Western Armenia, Kars province and Batumi okrug, and in 1918 in Transcaucasia, as a result of the implementation of the genocidal policy against Armenians, hundreds of thousands of people who had escaped massacres and violence became refugees. Some of them found shelter in Tiflis. Soon several compatriot associations were established here, the purpose of which was to provide material and moral support to their compatriots.
In order to increase the efficiency of their activities these associations united on 1 March 1918, creating the “Union of Compatriotic Associations”. In the spring of 1918, the Turkish military offensive began, which lasted until the autumn of the same year. These events had tragic consequences, especially for the Armenian population. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians from Yerevan, Baku, Elizavetpol and partially Tiflis provinces, as well as Kars and Batumi provinces became victims of the devastating Turkish offensive.
Tens of thousands of Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish troops and local Tatars and Kurds supported by them, hundreds of villages were completely destroyed, and tens of thousands of people became refugees fleeing death. In fact, the Turkish government continued the state-organized genocide of Armenians, but now against the Armenian population outside the Ottoman Empire.
In 1918, the “Union of Compatriotic Associations” decided to appeal to the representatives of the allied countries with a request to stop the Turkish discord and robberies. In order for the submitted appeal to give an accurate picture of the situation in each Armenian county, it was decided to entrust the “Union of Compatriotic Associations” to compile brief reports on the situation in their regions.
From 25 to 29 November 1918 the associations of Karabakh and Zangezur, Alexandropol, Shemakha and Gokchi, Akhalkalaki, Lori, Pambak, Akhaltsikhe, Ganja, New Bayazet, as well as the security committee of Gohtan county submitted the required reports to the central council of the “Union of Compatriotic Associations”. They summarized information on human and material losses, as well as other acts of violence known at the time.