Though never counted in the census, these nomads regarded Karabakh as their homeland. Strategically Mountainous Karabakh was important to Azerbaijan as well, since control of any other power over it would leave Azerbaijan very vulnerable. Economically Karabakh was tied to Azerbaijan, with almost every major road going eastward to Baku, not westward to Yerevan. Ethnic and religious tension, March 1918 In March 1918, ethnic and religious tension grew and Armenian-Azeri conflict began in Baku. The Bolsheviks and their allies accused the Musavat and Ittihad parties of Pan-Turkism. Armenian and Muslim militia engaged in armed confrontation, with the formally neutral Bolsheviks tacitly supporting the Armenians. As a result, between 3,000 and 12,000 Azerbaijanis and other Muslims were killed in what became known as the March Days. Muslims were expelled from Baku, or went underground. At the same time the Baku Commune engaged in heavy fighting with the advancing Ottoman Caucasian Army of Islam in and around Ganja. Major battles occurred in Yevlakh and Agdash, where the Turks routed and defeated Dashnak and Russian Bolshevik forces. The government of Azerbaijan declared the annexation of Karabakh into the newly established Azerbaijan Democratic Republic of Baku and Yelizavetpol Gubernias. However, Nagorno-Karabakh and Zangezur refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the Azerbaijani Republic. The two Armenian uyezd (district) councils took power, organised and headed the struggle against Azerbaijan. Armenian "People's Government", July 1918 On July 22, 1918, the First Congress of the Armenians of Karabakh convened and declared the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, elected the National Council and the people's government. The People's Government of Karabakh had five administrators: Foreign and internal affairs – Yeghishe Ishkhanian Military affairs – Harutiun Toumanian Communications – Martiros Aivazian Finances – Movses Ter-Astvatsatrian Agronomy and justice – Arshavir Kamalyan The prime minister of the government was Yeghishe Ishkhanian, the secretary, Melikset Yesayan. The government published the newspaper "Westnik Karabakha". In September, at the 2nd Congress of the Armenians of Karabakh, the People's Government was renamed the Armenian National Council of Karabakh. In essence, however, its structure remained the same: Justice Department – Commissar Arso Hovhannisian, Levon Vardapetian Military Department – Harutiun Tumian (Tumanian) Department of Education – Rouben Shahnazarian Refugees Department – Moushegh Zakharian Control Department – Anoush Ter-Mikaelian Department of Foreign Affairs – Ashot Melik-Hovsepian. On July 24, the Declaration of the People's government of Karabakh was adopted, which set forth the objectives of the newly established state power.