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Armenian military forces committed genocide acts in the town of Khojaly on its population of 7,000 on Feb.26, 1992.
Some 613 people were killed, 1,000 civilians of different age became invalid as a result of bullet wounds during the Khojaly genocide. About 106 women, 63 children, 70 old men were killed. Eight families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parent, while 25 both lost both parents. 1,275 civilians were taken hostages, while the fate of 150 of them is still unknown.
All these acts were committed by Armenian military with special mercilessness and inconceivable barbarism. The Second battalion of 366th regiment under the command of Major Seyran Ohanian, third battalion under the command of Yevgeniy Nabokhin, staff chief of 1st battalion Chitchyan Valeriy and more than 50 officers and ensigns took part in the attack, according to information taken “From the investigation materials concerning Khojaly occupation”).
A part of the town residents, who attempted to flee, were killed by Armenians in pre-organized ambushes. According to the Russian Remedial Center Memorial, 200 corpses were brought from Khojaly to Agdam within four days of the massacre. Facts of humiliation were discovered on dozens of bodies. Forensic examination in Aghdam was performed on 181 corpses, including 13 children. The outcome of the examination revealed that 151 people were killed as a result of bullet wounds, 20 people died from missile wounds, 10 more were killed with blunt instruments. Facts of scalping people alive were also discovered.
The Khojaly genocide has become of the most terrible and tragic pages of Azerbaijan history.
Azerbaijani people have endured ethnic cleansing and genocide by nationally-chauvanist Armenians for 200 years. The people of Azerbaijan were deported from their historical lands and became refugees and internally displaced persons and all these were accompanied by massacres committed by Armenians.
Azerbaijanis were also forced from their historical lands during the Soviet period. Some 150,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from Armenia and placed in the Kur-Araz plain in 1948-1953.
About 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forced from their historical territories in 1988 and Armenia became a mono-ethnical state. The Nagorno-Karabakh events, which began in 1988 along with continuous efforts to implement the Armenian desire of building “Armenia from sea to sea”, led to the destruction of towns and villages, murder of thousands of innocent people, as well as the exile of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands.
Armenian government tries to annex Nagorno-Karabakh despite international legal norms, demonstrating its readiness to resort to any kind of crime and atrocity.
Khojaly genocide – the tragedy of the 20th century – was a result of this aggressive and criminal policy. This tragedy, which took place in late 20th century, was one of the most serious crimes not only against the people of Azerbaijan, but humanity as a whole. Khojaly genocide is comparable to the tragedies in Khatin, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Songmi.
Why did Armenians chose Khojaly as a target? On one hand, they were intending to destroy barriers of strategic importance in Karabakh’s mountainous part, and on the other hand Armenians just wanted to completely destroy Khojaly – a settlement, reflecting the historical and cultural traditions of Azerbaijani people from ancient times to the modern period.
This distinct culture is classified as Khojaly-Gadabay culture in the Azerbaijani history. Cromlechs, dolmens, cyclops, tumuluses of Khojaly, as well as different housing wares are the patterns of material culture that reflect the dynamics of development of human society. The destruction of all these material culture monuments and the Khojaly graveyard – one of the most ancient cemeteries in history – after the Armenian occupation are obvious examples of Armenian barbarism and aggression against the world culture.
Khojaly genocide’s episodes are horrifying. Antiga, a Khojaly resident, was burned alive because she refused to say the area “was part of Great Armenia.”
Sariyya Talibova, another Khojaly resident said “four Mehseti Turks and three Azerbaijanis were decapitated over the grave of an Armenian. Later they gouged out the eyes of two Azerbaijanis”.
Armenians scalped living people, beheaded them and cut other parts of their bodies, gouged children’s eyes and disemboweled pregnant women.
Forbidden bullets of 5.45 caliber and chemical weapons were used in Khojaly during the attack. All these prove the fact that Armenia committed genocide against civilians, violating Geneva Convention’s protocols.
Khojaly genocide, committed with a particular atrocity, terrified journalists and publicists of Russia, Georgia, Great Britain, France, Germany, the U.S. and other countries.
International conventions and laws in all world countries criticize genocides like the Khojaly tragedy and call them inadmissible. The world must know that this crime was directed not only against the Azerbaijani nation, but also against the whole civilized world. People holding high state positions in Armenia today, and others must answer before international court.
This crime should not remain without punishment. Armenia’s military-political aggression must be condemned by the world community. International organizations and parliaments of world countries must give political and legal appraisal to the Khojaly genocide, committed by the Armenian Republic on Azerbaijan’s territories.
It should be noted that the parliaments of several world countries made decisions recognizing the Khojaly genocide.
Trend.az
