 Being unable to defend the independence of the country on their own, the government of Azerbaijan asked the Ottoman Empire for military support in accordance with clause 4 of the treaty between the two countries.The Baku Soviet troops looted and killed Muslims as they moved towards Ganja.However many of the troops Shahumian requested from Moscow for the protection of Baku did not arrive because they were held up on the orders of Joseph Stalin in Tsaritsyn.