In March 1918 , ethnic and religious tension grew and the Armenian-Azeri conflict in Baku began . The Musavat and Ittihad parties were accused of Pan-Turkism by the Bolsheviks and their allies . The Armenian and Muslim militias engaged in armed confrontation , with the formally neutral Bolsheviks tacitly supporting the Armenian side . All the non-Azeri political groups of the city joined the Bolsheviks against the Muslims : Bolsheviks , Dashnaks , Social Revolutionaries , Mensheviks and even the anti-Bolshevik Kadets found themselves for the first time on the same side of the barricade because they were all fighting " for the Russian cause " . Equating the Azeris with the Ottoman Turks , the Dashnaks launched a massacre on the city 's Azeris in revenge for the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire . As a result , between 3,000 and 12,000 Muslims were killed in what is known as the March Days . Muslims were expelled from Baku , or went underground . At the same time the Baku Commune was involved 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 forces
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic