| Quba mass grave | |
|---|---|
Quba kütləvi məzarlığı | |
 | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Location | |
| Country | Azerbaijan |
| Type | Mass grave |
The Quba mass grave is a mass grave site from 1918 in the town of Quba in northeastern Azerbaijan.
| Quba mass grave | |
|---|---|
Quba kütləvi məzarlığı | |
| | |
| | |
| Details | |
| Location | |
| Country | Azerbaijan |
| Type | Mass grave |
The Quba mass grave is a mass grave site from 1918 in the town of Quba in northeastern Azerbaijan.
 |
Once the burial site was uncovered, the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences dispatched a forensic expedition to the location. The expedition released its first forensics report on April 13, 2007, stating that the preponderance of commingled skeletal remains suggests that the people were first executed and then thrown into wells, 2.5 to 5 meters deep. [1] Gahraman Agayev, the leader of the forensic expedition, followed up on this by reporting the discovery of two main wells and two canals with human bones. The research has discovered the remains of more than 400 people belonging to different age groups in the grave. Of these, 50 belong to children, more than 100 to women and others mainly to elderly men. The Azerbaijani government stated that the burial was from a massacre committed against the local population by Armenian gangs in 1918. [2]
In response to the mass grave discovery, Levon Yepiskoposyan, supervisor of Human Genetics at the Institute of Molecular Biology in the Armenian National Academy of Sciences and president of the Armenian Anthropological Society, and Hayk Kotanjian, President of the Association of Political Science at the Ministry Doctor of Political Sciences, sent letters urging the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Mahmud Kerimov, to form a joint committee to examine the remains found. As of 2013, those letters have not received a response from Azerbaijani officials. [3]
Hayk Demoyan, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, has stated that no foreign experts have examined the human remains. [4]
Forensic anthropology is the application of the anatomical science of anthropology and its various subfields, including forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy, in a legal setting. A forensic anthropologist can assist in the identification of deceased individuals whose remains are decomposed, burned, mutilated or otherwise unrecognizable, as might happen in a plane crash. Forensic anthropologists are also instrumental in the investigation and documentation of genocide and mass graves. Along with forensic pathologists, forensic dentists, and homicide investigators, forensic anthropologists commonly testify in court as expert witnesses. Using physical markers present on a skeleton, a forensic anthropologist can potentially determine a person's age, sex, stature, and race. In addition to identifying physical characteristics of the individual, forensic anthropologists can use skeletal abnormalities to potentially determine cause of death, past trauma such as broken bones or medical procedures, as well as diseases such as bone cancer.
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact definition is not unanimously agreed upon. Mass graves are usually created after many people die or are killed, and there is a desire to bury the corpses quickly for sanitation concerns. Although mass graves can be used during major conflicts such as war and crime, in modern times they may be used after a famine, epidemic, or natural disaster. In disasters, mass graves are used for infection and disease control. In such cases, there is often a breakdown of the social infrastructure that would enable proper identification and disposal of individual bodies.
Khachmaz District is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the northeast of the country and belongs to the Guba-Khachmaz Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Qusar, Quba, Shabran, and the Russian Republic of Dagestan. Its capital and largest city is Khachmaz. As of 2020, the district had a population of 179,800.
The Khojaly massacre was the mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces and the 366th CIS regiment in the town of Khojaly on 26 February 1992. The event became the largest single massacre throughout the entire Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New York City, with offices in Boston, Washington, D.C., as well as Nairobi. It was established in 1986 to use the unique skills and credibility of health professionals to advocate for persecuted health workers, prevent torture, document mass atrocities, and hold those who violate human rights accountable.
Ellis R. Kerley was an American anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of Forensic anthropology, which is a field of expertise particularly useful to criminal investigators and for the identification of human remains for humanitarian purposes. Best known for his work in age dating of specimens, Kerley also made humanitarian contributions by identifying the remains of repatriated American soldiers from the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Clyde Snow was an American forensic anthropologist. Some of his skeletal confirmations include John F. Kennedy, victims of John Wayne Gacy, King Tutankhamun, victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.
Khinalug or Khinalyg, is a municipality and an ancient Caucasian village with origins dating back to the Caucasian Albanian period. It is located high up in the mountains of Quba District, Azerbaijan. The municipality of Khinalug is part of the Quba District and consists of the villages of Khinalug and Galaykhudat. The village was included in the Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and "Köç Yolu" Transhumance Route UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
Anti-Armenian sentiment, also known as anti-Armenianism and Armenophobia, is a diverse spectrum of negative feelings, dislikes, fears, aversion, racism, derision and/or prejudice towards Armenians, Armenia, and Armenian culture.
The history of the Jews in Azerbaijan dates back many centuries. Today, Jews in Azerbaijan mainly consist of three distinct groups: Mountain Jews, the most sizable and most ancient group; Ashkenazi Jews, who settled in the area during the late 19th-early 20th centuries, and during World War II; and Georgian Jews who settled mainly in Baku during the early part of the 20th century.
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. Yerevan is the capital, largest city and financial center.
Azykh Cave, also referred to as Azokh Cave, is a six-cave complex in Azerbaijan, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. It is situated near the village of Azykh in the Khojavend District. The cave is an important prehistoric site which has been occupied by different human groups for a long time. The ancient layers of the Middle Paleolithic have yielded Neanderthal fossil remains that may date from around 300,000 years ago.
Quba is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a population of 47,200 (2023).
Hayk Demoyan is an Armenian historian who served as the Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia from 2006 to 2018.
Forensic geophysics is a branch of forensic science and is the study, the search, the localization and the mapping of buried objects or elements beneath the soil or the water, using geophysics tools for legal purposes. There are various geophysical techniques for forensic investigations in which the targets are buried and have different dimensions. Geophysical methods have the potential to aid the search and the recovery of these targets because they can non-destructively and rapidly investigate large areas where a suspect, illegal burial or, in general, a forensic target is hidden in the subsoil. When in the subsurface there is a contrast of physical properties between a target and the material in which it is buried, it is possible to individuate and define precisely the concealing place of the searched target. It is also possible to recognize evidences of human soil occupation or excavation, both recent and older. Forensic geophysics is an evolving technique that is gaining popularity and prestige in law enforcement.
Hayk Sargsi Kotanjian is an Armenian military diplomat, academic and political adviser. Kotanjian is the author of several monographs in Russian, English and German as well as numerous articles on crisis management, ethnic conflict, security, defense and strategic studies, and cyberpsychology. Since 2005, he has headed the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) in Yerevan and since 2016 has been the Head of the National Defense Research University. He also chairs the Political Science Association and the Board of Conferment of Academic Degrees in Political Science and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
Anti-Armenian sentiment or Armenophobia is widespread in Azerbaijan, mainly due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Armenians are "the most vulnerable group in Azerbaijan in the field of racism and racial discrimination." A 2012 opinion poll found that 91% of Azerbaijanis perceive Armenia as "the biggest enemy of Azerbaijan." The word "Armenian" (erməni) is widely used as an insult in Azerbaijan. Stereotypical opinions circulating in the mass media have their deep roots in the public consciousness.
The Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, which operated between 1925 and 1961 in the town of Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children. The home was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns, that also operated the Grove Hospital in the town. Unmarried pregnant women were sent to the home to give birth and interned for a year doing unpaid work.
Lalatapa is a 271.1 m (889 ft) high hill in the Jabrayil Rayon of Azerbaijan, 2.9 kilometres (1.8 mi) north-west of Çocuq Mərcanlı.
Erin H. Kimmerle is an American forensic anthropologist, artist, and executive director of the Institute of Forensic Anthropology & Applied Science at the University of South Florida. She was awarded the 2020 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility.
