KHOJALY GENOCIDE
The Azerbaijani people, who were subjected to genocide by Armenians in different periods of history, faced another such tragedy in Khojaly at the end of the 20th century. This was one of the terrible crimes rarely encountered in human history and was the culmination of Armenia's military aggression against our country.
On the night of February 25-26, 1992, Armenian armed forces entered the city of Khojaly with the support of the 366th motorized rifle regiment stationed in Khankendi and committed the Khojaly genocide.
This genocide is one of the most terrible and tragic events in the history of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which started in 1988. The Khojaly massacre is similar to the most terrible and cruelest tragedy of the 20th century, Khatyn and Hiroshima.
Khojaly was under blockade since October 1991. On October 30, the car connection was cut off and the only means of transport left was the helicopter. The last helicopter went to Khojaly on January 28, 1992. After a civilian helicopter was shot down in the sky of Shusha city and as a result 40 people were killed, this connection was also interrupted. Since January 2, the city was without electricity. The city survived and was defended only thanks to the heroism of the population and the bravery of its defenders. The defense of the city was mainly organized by the local self-defense group armed with small arms, the militia and the fighters of the National Army. But it didn't take long and…
And one of the most terrible and tragic pages in the history of Azerbaijan was born. Khojaly genocide... On February 26, 1992, when illegal Armenian military units entered Khojaly city with a population of 7,000, 613 civilians were brutally murdered, 1,000 residents of various ages were disabled from gunshot wounds, 106 women, 63 minor children, 70 an old man was killed, 8 families were completely destroyed, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one of their parents. On the night of the tragedy, 1,275 civilians were captured, the fate of 150 of them is still unknown.
All this was carried out by the Armenian military with special ruthlessness and unimaginable brutality. The 2nd battalion of the 366th regiment of the Soviet army under the command of Major Ohanyan Seyran Mishegovich, the 3rd battalion under the command of Yevgeny Nabokikh, the chief of staff of the 1st battalion Chitchyan Valery Isayevich and more than 50 Armenian officers and ensigns who served in the regiment also took part in the attack. ("From investigative materials on the occupation of Khojaly").
A part of the city's population was killed in prearranged ambushes while trying to escape the violence. According to the information of the Russian "Memorial" legal protection center, the corpses of 200 Azerbaijanis who were killed in Khojaly were brought to Aghda within four days, and the fact that dozens of corpses were insulted was discovered. In Aghdam, 181 corpses (130 men and 51 women, including 13 children) were subjected to forensic examination.
During the examination, it was determined that 151 people were killed by bullet wounds, 20 people were killed by shrapnel wounds, and 10 people were killed by being shot with a blunt instrument. The legal protection center also recorded the fact that a living person was beheaded.
From what the foreign press wrote about these atrocities:
Croix l'Eveneman magazine (Paris), February 25, 1992: Armenians attacked Khojaly. The whole world witnessed the mutilated corpses. Azerbaijanis report thousands of deaths.
The Sunday Times (London), March 1, 1992: Armenian soldiers destroyed thousands of families.
Financial Times newspaper (London), March 9, 1992: Armenians shot a group heading towards Aghdam. Azerbaijanis counted up to 1200 bodies.
A Lebanese cinematographer has confirmed that the wealthy Dashnak community of his country is sending arms and men to Karabakh.
The Times (London), 4 March 1992: Many were disfigured, with only the head of the baby girl left.
Izvestia (Moscow), March 4, 1992: A video camera showed children with their ears cut off. A woman's face is cut in half. The scalps of the men were taken.
Financial Times newspaper (London), March 14, 1992: General Polyakov stated that 103 Armenian soldiers of the 366th regiment remained in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Le Mond newspaper (Paris), March 14, 1992: Foreign journalists in Aghdam saw 3 people with their scalps taken and nails removed among the women and children killed in Khojaly. This is not the propaganda of Azerbaijanis, this is reality.
Izvestia (Moscow), March 13, 1992: Major Leonid Kravets: I personally saw about a hundred dead bodies on the hill. One boy had no head. Women, children, old people who were killed with special cruelty could be seen everywhere.
Valer Aktuelle magazine (Paris), March 14, 1992: Armenian armed groups in this "autonomous region" have modern equipment, including helicopters, along with those from the Middle East. ASALA has military camps and weapons depots in Syria and Lebanon. Armenians massacred more than a hundred Muslim villages and destroyed Azerbaijanis in Karabakh.
R. Patrick, journalist of "Fant Men News" television company of England (was at the scene of the incident): The atrocities in Khojaly cannot be justified by anything in the eyes of the world community.
It should be noted that the people of Azerbaijan have been continuously subjected to the policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide by Armenian nationalists for 200 years. The people of Azerbaijan were driven out of their historical lands, turned into refugees and internally displaced people, and all this was accompanied by mass massacres by Armenians. The expulsion of Azerbaijanis from their historical-ethnic lands continued during the Soviet era. In 1948-1953, 150,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from Armenia and settled in the Kur-Araz plain of Azerbaijan. In 1988, 250,000 Azerbaijanis living in their historical lands were expelled from this territory, and thus Armenia became a mono-ethnic state.
The events that started around Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, the attempt of Armenian ideologues to realize the absurd idea of "Armenia from the sea to the sea" resulted in the destruction of villages and cities, the death of tens of thousands of innocent people, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands.
Contrary to all norms of international law, Armenia wants to annex Nagorno-Karabakh to itself, and shows that it is ready for all crimes and atrocities. The tragedy of the 20th century, the Khojaly genocide, is the result of this aggressive and criminal Armenian policy. This tragedy, which happened at the end of the 20th century, is one of the heaviest crimes directed not only against the people of Azerbaijan, but against all humanity. The Khojaly genocide ranks with the terrible tragedies of the century such as Khatyn, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Songmi.
What was the purpose of the Armenians to target the city of Khojaly? On the one hand, this was to eliminate the strategically important obstacle, which consisted of Azerbaijanis in the mountainous part of Karabakh, and on the other hand, it was the goal of erasing Khojaly from the face of the earth once and for all. Because Khojaly was such a settlement that reflected history and cultural traditions from the ancient times of the history of Azerbaijan to the modern era. This special culture went down in history as the Khojaly-Gadabey culture. Khojaly's cromlechs, dolmens, cyclops, mounds and other monuments, as well as various types of household items are examples of material culture that reflect the development dynamics of human society. After the Armenian occupation, the destruction of all these material cultural monuments and the demolition of the Khojaly cemetery, which is considered one of the oldest cemeteries in the world, by means of machinery, is a clear example of Armenian vandalism, as well as an act of violence against world culture.
Episodes of the Khojaly genocide are terrifying. Antiga, a resident of Khojaly, was burned alive by the Armenians for not uttering the words "these places are part of greater Armenia" demanded by the Armenian military. Another resident of Khojaly, Sariyya Talibova, said that "they beheaded 4 Turks and 3 Azerbaijanis on Armenian graves. Then they put out the eyes of 2 more Azerbaijanis."
The Armenians did absolutely insulting actions on the survivors. They scalped them, cut off their heads and other body parts, put out children's eyes, and ripped open pregnant women's bellies. During the attack, 5.45 caliber cartridges and chemical weapons, which are banned in Khojaly, were used. All this confirms that Armenia violated the protocols of the Geneva Convention and carried out genocide against civilians in violation of the rules of war.
The fact that the Khojaly genocide was carried out with special cruelty horrified journalists and publicists who are citizens of Russian, Georgian, British, French, German, American and other countries.
The international conventions and universal laws accepted in the world condemn genocides like the Khojaly tragedy and state that they are unacceptable. The people of Azerbaijan, guided by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide dated December 9, 1948, have all the legal grounds to file a lawsuit against Armenia at the UN International Court of Justice. The world should know that this crime was committed not only against the people of Azerbaijan, but also against the entire world civilization and humanity. Today, those who hold important state positions in Armenia, Seyran Ohanyan, Serzh Sargsyan, as well as Robert Kocharyan and others must answer before the international court as the perpetrators of the genocide.
Crime should not go unpunished. Armenia's military and political aggression should be condemned by the world community. International organizations, parliaments of the world states should give an international political and legal assessment to the war crime committed by Armenia on the lands of Azerbaijan - the Khojaly genocide as a real genocide. The parliaments of dozens of countries around the world have already given their opinion and adopted decisions recognizing the Khojaly genocide.
The anniversary of the Khojaly genocide is celebrated with sadness every year in Azerbaijan and many countries around the world. Every year on February 26, Azerbaijani embassies and diaspora organizations organize commemorative ceremonies and conferences in the countries where they operate. At these events, photo booths and documentaries depicting the atrocities committed by Armenians in Khojaly are shown, and books depicting the facts of the genocide are exhibited.
