Martyrs' Lane
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Martyrs' Lane or Alley of Martyrs (), formerly known as the Kirov Park, is a
cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
and memorial in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
dedicated to those killed by the
Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...
during Black January 1990 and in the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...
of 1988–1994.


History

In the closing days of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, fighting broke out in Baku as a result of the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
, with four groups fighting for control of the area when the Russian Empire collapsed. Fighting each other were the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
,
Mensheviks The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...
,
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
and
Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...
. Many people were killed in the fighting including some from a small British force sent to prevent Baku falling into the hands of the Russians. The Martyrs' Lane site first served as Muslim cemetery for victims of the March Events of 1918. The cemetery was completely destroyed and the corpses removed after the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
came to power, who created an amusement park on the site and installed a statue of
Sergei Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction ...
, the prominent Bolshevik leader. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the statue and the amusement park facilities were removed and the location was reinstated as a burial site for national heroes. The first buried at the newly instated memorial were those who had died during the Black January events of 1990 when Soviet forces invaded Baku. The memorial was next used for the burial of the bodies of men who died in the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...
, an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small
enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...
of
Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...
in southwestern
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
, between the ethnic
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by
Armenia 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 (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
, and the Republic of Azerbaijan.


Design

It is estimated that approximately 15,000 people are buried in the cemetery. It is located on a hill in the south of the city overlooking the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
. It is considered a shrine to those who have given their lives for Azerbaijan's independence and attracts thousands of visitors each year.


Memorials

The
Eternal Flame An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which ca ...
Memorial is located at Martyrs' lane and is frequently visited by Azerbaijani presidents and other dignitaries. Martyrs' Lane is also home to Baku Turkish Martyrs' Memorial, a large memorial to the 1,130 Turkish troops who were killed while fighting Bolshevik and Armenian forces during the Battle of Baku in 1918. Next to the memorial there is a martyrs mosque, also built by Turks. The memorial contains a hexagonal block clad in red granite; each face contains a pure white marble crescent-star, based on those in the Turkish national flag. It was unveiled by the former Turkish president
Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...
and the Azerbaijani president
Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev (10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was an Azerbaijani politician who was a Soviet party boss in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1969 to 1982, and the third president of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to ...
at a formal ceremony in September, 1999. Not far from the Turkish memorial there is a small wall acknowledging the British soldiers killed during the same conflict.


Eternal Flame Memorial Complex

The proposal to establish the Eternal Flame Memorial was put forward in 1994. The Parliament of Azerbaijan, on the initiative of President Aliyev, subsequently agreed to erect a national monument in memory of Azerbaijani martyrs. Aliyev personally oversaw the project. During the exhibition on the fifth anniversary of Black January, three proposals, including one by sculptor Omar Eldarov, were submitted to the President; he requested several more proposals. The proposal developed by the architect Elbay Gasimzade won the competition. On August 5, 1998, President Aliyev issued an order to erect an Eternal Flame monument in the Alley of Martyrs with funding of 2 billion AZN. The monument was inaugurated on October 9, 1998. The memorial complex is composed of a tomb standing on an 8-pointed star crown with a gold-framed glass dome. In 2007, the columns of the Eternal Flame were heightened and parts of the octangular star and eight-pointed mirror were made of gold.


Notable burials

The first tomb in the entrance of Martyrs' Lane belongs to married couple Fariza and Ilham Allahverdiyev, who died during Black January. Ilham, was shot dead by Soviet troops and Fariza committed suicide after hearing of her husband's death. The tomb has become a symbol of fidelity and love. The cemetery also contains the graves of the journalists Chingiz Mustafayev and Salatyn Asgarova, who were killed during the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...
.Təsisçilər Şurası


Gallery

File:Vladimir Putin in Azerbaijan 9-10 January 2001-10.jpg, President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
laying a wreath at the memorial. File:Dmitry Medvedev in Azerbaijan 3 July 2008-7.jpg, President
Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
laying a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument. File:Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have visited the Alley of Martyrs in Baku 07.jpg,
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
and
Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...
at the memorial File:Mosque of the Martyrs in Baku.jpg, Mosque of the Martyrs File:Memorial anglichanam.JPG, Memorial to the British soldiers.


See also

* Khojaly Massacre * Chemberekend Cemetery


References

{{Baku landmarks Buildings and structures in Baku Tourist attractions in Baku Cemeteries in Baku 1990 establishments in Azerbaijan Cemeteries established in the 1990s