Baku, April 25, AZERTAC

"The political leaders of some countries make distorted statements that do not reflect the truth on the so-called “Armenian genocide”, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told AZERTAC.

Hikmat Hajiyev said: “As a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey notes, there is a display of indifference to the massacre of more than 500,000 people by illegal Armenian armed units. In addition, a blind eye is turned to the bloodshed and atrocities perpetrated by Armenian Dashnaks in Baku and other regions of Azerbaijan in March 1918.

Armenian terrorist organizations launched aggressive separatist acts in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in the late 1980s and committed numerous acts of terror. As a result of the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan were occupied. Over a million Azerbaijanis were subjected to bloody ethnic cleansing in the territory of Armenia and the occupied territories. Armenia perpetrated numerous war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide.

The unprecedented atrocities and the act of genocide against the Azerbaijani civilian population committed by the armed forces of Armenia in the city of Khojaly on 26 February 1992 are clear evidence of this. More than 10 countries recognize crimes committed in Khojaly as an act of genocide.

As a result of the ongoing aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, more than a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons. The destructive policy of Armenia is based on aggression and does not allow for a fair solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions and principles of the Helsinki Final Act. The aggressor policy of Armenia continues to be the main source of threat to peace and security in the region.

Armenian armed forces on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, as well as along the border of the two countries, continue to take aim at and kill the civilian population of Azerbaijan, including children.

The far-fetched “Armenian genocide” serves to conceal the crimes of the Armenians and Armenia and to portray Armenia as an oppressed country. Historical facts are deliberately falsified on the part of Armenia and Armenian lobbying circles.

History should be studied by historians and should not be used for political ends. Despite the fact that Turkey has invited historians to open archives and explore historical facts related to the events of 1915, Armenia has rejected the offer.

Instead of using political assertions to assess the events based on a distortion of history 100 years ago, some countries should give a fair assessment to the ongoing military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and put an end to the aggressor policy of Armenia.”