The Azerbaijan State News Agency

DAYS OF SORROW

ADDRESS BY KHOJALY IDPS TO THE UNITED NATIONS, COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ON 17TH ANNIVERSARY OF KHOJALY GENOCIDE

We, miraculously survived witnesses of the genocide committed by Armenian nationalists in the city of Khojaly located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on 26 February, 1992, once again call upon the United Nations, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as well as the whole progressive and civilized mankind to give a legal and political assessment to the Khojaly genocide.

In order to realize their mythical idea of “Great Armenia” at the expense of historical Azerbaijani lands, the Armenian nationalist and extremist circles, who in 1978 erected in Nagorno-Karabakh a monument marking the 150th anniversary of Armenians’ moving to Azerbaijan from Iran, supported by their foreign patrons, over the past two centuries, have consecutively pursued aggressive policy against Azerbaijan through committing numerous crimes against humanity, including terrorist acts, massacres, mass deportations and genocide.

There are many documents testifying that subjected to a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the Caucasus, Azerbaijanis were massively killed and deported from their historic lands in the years 1905-1907, 1918-1920, 1948-1953.

Armenia resumed its groundless territorial claims against Azerbaijan in 1988, launching the Nagorno-Karabakh provocation, which had neither historical nor political nor ethnic basis.

Between 1988 and 1989, more than 25,000 Azerbaijanis, who had been living on their historical, ethnic lands in Armenia, were deported all to a man, with hundreds of them brutally killed within the motioned period. As a result, Armenia turned into a monoethnic country, making Armenians’ long lasting dream come true.

It is been nearly 20 years since 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan, including 7 regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh and fully populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis, were occupied by Armenian armed forces. Over 1 million Azerbaijanis were brutally ousted from their historic homes, thousands were killed and mutilated.

The fate of more that 4,500 Azerbaijani prisoners of war, hostages and missing people, who were subject to inhuman treatment in prison camps in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, remains unknown.

Hundreds of towns and villages, thousands of buildings, historical and cultural monuments, mosques and cemeteries have been subject to unprecedented vandalism.

The massive killings of Azerbaijanis in Karabakh villages of Karkidjahan, Meshali, Gushchular, Garadgly, Agdaban and others, in early 90s of the 20th century, bloody terrorist acts in Baku and other cities of the country, and finally, the Khojaly genocide, are historic crimes, which will always lie as a black spot on conscience of the “oppressed and long-suffering” Armenians.

It is with great regret that we bring to your notice that the Khojaly genocide committed in 1992 now ranks among such horrible and monstrous human tragedies of the 20th century as Khatyn, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Son My.

On the night of February 26 of that year the Armenian armed groups supported by former Soviet army’s motorized rifle regiment No366, then deployed in the city of Khankendi (Stepanakert), attacked the Khojaly, which once was home to 7,000 Azerbaijanis (at the time of the attack there were around 3,000 people in the city), from five directions. By then Khojaly had already been blockaded for four months by the Armenian armed groups, with the city`s residents suffering extremely lack of provision and medical care. There were many disabled, wounded, the old, women and children in the city.

On that horrific night the city of Khojaly was erased from the face of the earth, with its peaceful residents, including children, women, the old and wounded brutally killed and tortured. The Armenian nationalists committed another bloody, uncivilized historic crime of the 20th century - the Khojaly genocide.

The aim of this barbaric action was to completely slaughter the population of the city. However, part of Khojaly residents miraculously managed to survive as if to witness to history.

In the Khojaly genocide, 613 innocent people - 106 women, 63 children and 70 the old - were killed; 1275 taken hostage, with 155 of them still missing; while 487, of them 76 underage people, were left disabled.

As a result of this military-political crime 8 families were completely slaughtered, 25 children lost both, while 130 one of their parents. Fifty six of those killed were murdered with extreme brutality as some of them were burnt alive, others had their eyes put out and were scalped and beheaded; pregnant women were bayoneted in the stomach.

It is too hard to believe that this unprecedentedly monstrous and brutal act was committed by human beings before the eyes of the world in the late 20th century!

However, the world must be aware that the committer of this historic crime, the crime against not only Azerbaijanis, but also the whole mankind, is the aggressive Armenian nationalism which has been presenting itself to the world as “a long-suffering and oppressed nation”.

It is for 17 years that we, internally displaced residents of Khojaly, have been calling - with pain in our hearts, and, at the same time, with great hopes - upon all peace-loving nations of the world and international organizations. We believe that being the world`s most influential international organizations the United Nations, Council of Europe and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and peace-loving countries will make Armenia, the aggressive country not respecting the international legal norms and human values, to live on the basis of principles of justice and fairness and build normal relations with neighboring countries!

The fact Armenia continues to reject four UN Security Council resolutions demanding withdrawal of its armed forces from occupied territories of Azerbaijan is, first and foremost, a serious blow to the organization`s prestige.

We express confidence that the world community will condemn Armenia`s military aggression against Azerbaijan, and show just and unbiased position to ensure Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity, return of over one million of refugees and IDPs to their homes, and a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Baku, 17 February, 2009.

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