A plan to massacre the Armenians of the provinces of Nukhi, Aresh, Shamakh, and Baku was prepared at a secret meeting of the government of Azerbaijan and the leaders of the ruling right-wing Musavat Party. Before the massacres, a secret order sent by Behbut Khan Jivanshir, Azerbaijani Interior Minister, to the mayors of Nukhi, Shamakh, and Baku, instructed: “It is necessary to exterminate the Armenians to achieve our goals crossing over their corpses. Do not spare anyone and execute faithfully the orders given to you.”