Every year on January 12, Turkmen commemorate the victims of the terrible massacre of Geok-Tepe, in which, according to historians, around 40,000 people were killed by Russian forces on January 12, 1881. For the Turkmen, this day is not just a day of remembrance, but a historical catastrophe.
Ashgabat – 142 years ago today, on January 12, 1881, the Russian army of the Tsarist Empire carried out one of the largest massacres of the Turkmen civilian population in Geok-Tepe/Turkmenistan, in which historians estimate that around 40,000 people fell victim to mass violent crimes (mezalim). A memorial ceremony for the victims takes place every year on January 12 in the Martyrs’ Mosque, which is located in the Geok-Tepe Fortress, around 50 kilometers from the capital Ashgabat.
In 1881, the Russian army of the then Tsarist Empire was on the advance in Turkestan to conquer the region. In the same year, the Russian army under the command of General Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev occupied the city of Yengi Şeher (New City). Thousands of Turkmen tried to prevent the conquest of the city of Geok-Tepe. The Russian army had encircled the city militarily.
After 23 days of self-sacrificing fighting by the Turkmen, 6,000 soldiers of the Tsarist army occupied the city. During the storming and subsequent capture of Geok-Tepes, thousands of Turkmen soldiers, women, children and old people were killed in massacres by the Russian army. In Turkish and Azerbaijani historiography, the term technicus Mezalim has become established for mass violent crimes against the Muslim civilian population.