Kazarakhai Genocide
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| Kazarakhai Genocide | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Shirvani-Kazarakhai War | |
| Location | Khazarkhai, Shirvaniya |
| Date | Systematic massacres start by 1920 Deportation between 1925 and 1928 |
| Target | Kazarakhai |
Attack type | Genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, massacre, genocidal rape, deportation, torture, death march, policide |
| Deaths | Scholarly sources state minimum 800,000 – 1,900,000 killed or expelled (minimum 80–97% of the total Kazarakhai population) |
| Perpetrators | Shirvani Dominion |
| Motive | Racism, Shirvani-Kazarakhai War, anti-Cacertian Empire sentiment |
The Kazarakhai genocide was the systematic destruction of the Kazar people and identity through mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and forced expulsion perpetrated by the Shirvani Dominion throughout the 1920s as part of both the Shirvani Revolution and associated Shirvani-Kazarakhai War. Approximately 80–97% of the total Kazarakhai population at the time were either killed or expelled entirely from Shirvaniya. Great animosity was held against the Kazars by the Shirvani which stemmed from the Kazar alliance with the Cacertian Empire and the resulting conquest of Shirvani lands conducted by combined Cacertian-Kazarakhai military forces between 1870 and 1875.
The Shirvani Insurgency, which had gained significant momentum by 1918 at the conclusion of the Divide War, capitalized on the Shirvani dissatisfaction with the Empire’s performance in recent years and began an overt campaign to establish a new Shirvani nation-state that ultimately culminated in the Peace of Imishli. Open conflict between the Shirvani and Kazars began in late 1920, but the Kazar National Guard was greatly outnumbered. While the Cacertian Empire attempted to support the Kazarakhai, it was logistically hampered following it’s defeat by the Republic of Syara and soon attempted to begin ferrying refugees of the conflict to the Cacertian home islands as early as 1924.
In early 1925, government officials of the Dominion agreed to negotiate terms of a resettlement of the Kazars to Cacerta. Although President Ceymur Agilli had given the order to deport the Kazars instead of massacre them, Shirvani generals often defied these orders and allowed their soldiers to murder Kazars in mass and rape Kazar women. By fall 1925, Shirvani operations in the former Khaganate had become efficient and methodical. Cacertian archives at the time reflected that nearly 1.1 million migrants had entered the Cacertian home islands from the Siduri mainland by 1928 with nearly half dying of disease despite their best efforts. If these numbers are to be assumed correct, it would make the Kazarakhai genocide one of the largest exiles in regional history.
The modern-day United Shirvani Republic continues to actively deny the events of the genocide and classifies it as a willing resettlement. Members of the Kazarakhai diaspora commemorate 5 May, the official date given for the end of the Shirvani-Kazarakhai War, as a day of mourning in remembrance of the genocide.