Baku, October 10, AZERTAC

Pakistan’s The Diplomatic Views website has published an article by chairman of the Public Union of Journalists’ Support to Diaspora Activities Azerbaijan Fuad Huseynzade highlighting the military crimes committed by Armenian army in Edilli village, Khojavand district.

Headlined “Armenian vandalism in Edilli”, the article reads: “Massacres were carried out against Azerbaijanis by Armenians from time to time. In the second half of the 80s of the last century, aggressive Armenian nationalists made groundless territorial claims against Azerbaijan. By creating the so-called Karabakh problem, Armenians committed massive massacres against Azerbaijanis and destroyed our cities and villages, material and cultural monuments. In 1991-1992, genocide was committed in Khojaly and other settlements. Armenians committed a number of inhumane crimes. One of these crimes is the killing and mass burial of captives and hostages. This factor is a human tragedy, a human crime. After the second Karabakh war, such acts of vandalism by the Armenian army became more apparent.

The mass graves discovered in the liberated territories prove this once again. On February 23 of this year, a mass grave was discovered in Edilli village of Khojavand region of Azerbaijan. On October 4, another mass grave was discovered in Edilli village. The remains of 12 people were found in the cemetery. From their clothes, it was determined that they were soldiers. It was clearly seen from the remains that the hands and feet of those persons were tied together with a rope before they died. All this is a clear example of Armenian vandalism.

It should be noted that the village of Edilli was occupied by the invading Armenian Armed Forces on October 2, 1992. It was liberated from occupation by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan on October 15, 2020.

Nurana Huseynova, head of the Medical Criminalistics Department of the Forensic Expertise and Pathological Anatomy Unit of the Ministry of Health, said: “The corpses in the mass graves found in Edilli village of Khojavand region belong to Azerbaijani soldiers. The heads of the corpses are bent forward to the left and right. They have clothes on and black leather-like boots on their feet. In addition, identification documents, two knives, cigarette butts, bullets, cartridges and casings were found in the fields. The discovered skeletons have belts around their waists. On the rusted iron plate on this belt, the images of hammer, sickle and star are mentioned.

The head of the department emphasized that the skeletal bones will be packed and sent to the forensics department for examination along with the decisions of the Military Prosecutor’s Office: “More accurate examinations will be continued there.”

The Armenian army grossly violated international law and international humanitarian law norms. In 1949, the III Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War was adopted. Armenians ignored the terms of this Convention and showed inhuman behavior to Azerbaijani prisoners of war.

“Edilli was used as concentration camp for Azerbaijani hostages by Armenia,” Assistant to the Azerbaijani President, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said on Twitter.

“Mass grave of tortured and killed Azerbaijani militaries by Armenia during the 1st Karabakh war identified in Edilli village. Edilli was used as concentration camp for Azerbaijani hostages by Armenia. 4000 Azerbaijani militaries/civilians remain missing. Armenia refuses to provide mass grave locations,” Hajiyev tweeted.

The fate of Azerbaijani citizens who were taken hostage by Armenians in the Karabakh war is still unknown. Undoubtedly, Armenians killed these people by torture. There are still mass graves in many liberated places. Although the Armenian side was addressed in this regard, they did not give any answer. These facts are revealed as mine clearing works are carried out. The Hague court should punish Armenia for these crimes.”