Khojaly genocide - the tragedy of the 20th century

Armenian military forces committed genocide acts in the town of Khojaly, Azerbaijan, with the population of 7,000 people on Feb. 26 1992. There were 3,000 people in the town at the time of Armenian military forces’ attack. Most part of the population had to leave town during four months blockade. 613 people were killed, 1,000 peaceful people of different age became invalid during Khojaly genocide. 106 women, 63 children, 70 old men were killed. 8 families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parents, while 25 both of them. 1,275 peace residents were taken hostages, while the fate of 150 of them is still unknown.

These were committed by Armenian military with special mercilessness and inconceivable barbarism. 2nd battalion of 366th regiment under the command of Major Oganyan Seyran Mushegovich, third battalion under the command of Yevgeniy Nabokhin, staff chief of 1st battalion Chitchyan Valeriy and more than 50 officers and ensigns, serving in regiment took part in the attack. (”From the investigation materials concerning Khojaly occupation”). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Azerbaijan Press, Khojaly No Comments » February 2010

Iranian parliamentarian condemns Armenia for Khojaly massacre

A group of Iranian parliamentarians would visit Azerbaijani embassy on February 25 to express condolences to Azerbaijan and to condemn Armenians.

“The people faced with massacre in Khojaly were our Muslim brothers and sisters”, member of the Iranian parliament from Ardabil and head of the Azerbaijani-Iranian inter-parliamentary friendship group Seyid Kazim Musavi said.

The parliamentarian said they condemned Armenia for Khojaly massacre and called it an aggressor. He said those, who killed children, old people, were enemy and murderer of the humanity. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Khojaly No Comments » February 2010

Khojaly Massacre: Crime and No Punishment

CANADA

Date: March 2, 2009 7:00 PM
Subject: Khojaly Massacre: Crime and No Punishment
Place: National Library and Archives Canada Auditorium 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa
Information: The Azerbaijani Community of Ottawa & Embassy of Republic of Azerbaijan
Contact: AzeriCanadians@gmail.com
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Events, Khojaly No Comments » February 2009

Ethnic War in the Caucasus Finds New Depths of Carnage

By Francis X.Clines, New York Times, March 8 1992

As Hadjayev Hakhverdy washes the corpses of gunshot children and mutiliated adults here at the valley mosque, all the despair and defeat of Azerbaijan seems at hand in his ministrations after four years of undeclared war with Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“I have cleaned 200 since Feb. 26,” said the mosque worker, aghast as he wrapped for burial another decapitated male corpse fresh from the war between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, which appears to be setting new standards for carnage and vendetta. “Some are so broken, but we must bury them.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: International Press, Khojaly No Comments » February 2009

Azerbaijan Seeking Justice For Khojaly Massacre

The Azerbaijani government said it is still trying to bring to justice those responsible for the events of the Khojaly massacre, as the 17th anniversary was marked on February 26.

Khojaly is a small Azerbaijani town in which hundreds of people, including many civilians, were killed by ethnic Armenian forces on February 25-26 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1992.

Azerbaijani Deputy Military Prosecutor Ilham Mammadov told RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service that the arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic last summer “gave hope that the international justice mechanisms could also be used in respect to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: International Press, Khojaly No Comments » February 2009

Remembering the Tragedy of Khojaly

THE AZERBAIJANI PERSPECTIVE: News from the Heart of the Silk Road
February 27, 2009 - Los Angeles, California

On February 26, 1992, Armenian troops backed by Russian forces brutally annihilated the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Human Rights Watch called Khojaly “the largest massacre” in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 17 years ago in Khojaly,613 people, including 106 women and 63 children, were tortured to death, with hundreds more missing. Over 1,000 people received permanent health damage, 1,275 people were taken hostage, 8 families were fully destroyed.

International media and observers have documented multiple cases of scalping and other forms of mutilation as an integral part of thorough ethnic cleansing of the occupied Azerbaijani territories by Armenian forces. Armenia’s current President Serj Sarkissian, who at the time was a field commander, admitted to the British journalist Thomas DeWaal that “before Khojali, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their
hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that [stereotype]. (Thomas De Waal. Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War, NYU Press, 2004). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Khojaly No Comments » February 2009

Commemorating the 17th Anniversary of the Massacre at Khojaly

SPEECH OF HON. ED WHITFIELD OF KENTUCKY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2009

• Mr. WHITFIELD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to solemnly recognize the 17th anniversary of the massacre at Khojaly, and to honor the lives of those lost in this great tragedy.

• On February 26, 1992, the small town of Khojaly, Azerbaijan was violently shaken by invading Armenian troops during the Armenian-Azerbaijan war. Armenian forces surrounded the town and opened fire on the innocent inhabitants. During this bloody incursion, nearly 2,000 civilians–mostly women, children and the elderly–were brutally killed, wounded or taken hostage by the Armenian military forces as they seized the town. This resulted in the largest massacre of modern times in the Caucasus and Caspian Basin. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Khojaly No Comments » February 2009

Azerbaijani Embassy commemorates Khojaly massacre

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Turkey is holding a commemorative ceremony today to mark the anniversary of the killing of hundreds of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in the early 1990s.
The theme of the commemorative events will be, “Where speech ends.”

“The Khojaly massacre constitutes one of the most tragic chapters in our history. It was an atrocity against unarmed civilians committed at the end of the 20th century and open murder,” a statement from the Azerbaijani Embassy said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Khojaly, Turkish Press No Comments » February 2009

Memorial Day:Do not forget Khojaly Genocide!

BELGIUM

Date: 26 Feb. 2009  13:30
Subject: Khojaly (Hodjali) Genocide Memorial Day
Place: Square de Meeuse, Brussels
Information: Yeni Beltürk - Armenian Issue Blog
Contact: atkbozdemir@gmail.com
 

Posted by admin Posted in: Events, Khojaly No Comments » February 2009

UN- General Assembly: Human Rights Question

General Assembly, Fifty-first session
THIRD COMMITTEE, Agenda item 110

Eldar KOULIYEV   Ambassador

The armed aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Azerbaijani Republic pursuant to its policy of violent acquisition of territory and its plans to establish a “Greater Armenia” has resulted in gross and flagrant violations of human rights which fall within the category of crimes against humanity.

 The armed hostilities against Azerbaijan were preceded by anti-constitutional actions in the Nagorny Karabakh region of Azerbaijan perpetrated by separatist groups receiving outside support; forming the backdrop to these actions were certain decisions taken by the Armenian authorities in contravention of international law.  Of these decisions, the most notorious is the resolution “Reunification of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and Nagorny Karabakh” adopted by the Armenian Parliament on 1 December 1989.  Moreover, in Armenia’s declaration of sovereignty of 23 August 1990, part of the territory of another State  the Nagorny Karabakh region of Azerbaijan - is recognized as an integral part of the Republic of Armenia.  These decisions by the Armenian Parliament were enacted by its armed forces with the widespread use of mercenary bands and a sudden upsurge in terrorist activity by the Armenian special services and terrorist organizations against sovereign Azerbaijan with a view to wresting away part of its age-old lands.  All-out hostilities began at the end of 1991 and the start of 1992 when Armenian armed formations initiated combat operations in the Nagorny Karabakh region of Azerbaijan using the very latest weapons systems.  Since May 1992 their armed forces have made incursions beyond the borders of the former Nagorny Karabakh Autonomous Region into other parts of the country.

     As a result of more than eight years of war, approximately 20 per cent of the entire territory of Azerbaijan, comprising Nagorny Karabakh and an area four times bigger than that region, has been occupied and held by the Armenian armed forces.

     A chronological list of the seizure of Azerbaijani towns and districts follows:

     28 February 1992 - Khojaly
     8 May 1992 - Shusha
     18 May 1992 - Lachin
     3 April 1993 - Kelbajar
     28 June 1993 - Agdere
     23 July 1993 - Agdam
     23 August 1993 - Fizuli
     26 August 1993 - Djebrail
     30 September 1993 - Kubatly
     28 October 1993 - Zangelan and Goradiz

It should be noted in particular that the Agdere and Agdam districts of Azerbaijan were seized by Armenian armed forces following the adoption of Security Council resolution 822 (1993) of 30 April 1993, which condemned the occupation of the Kelbajar district; the Fizuli district was seized after the adoption of Security Council resolution 853 (1993) of 29 July 1993 condemning the seizure of the Agdam district; and the Djebrail and Kubatly districts were seized after the adoption of Security Council resolution 874 (1993) of 14 October 1993.  In its resolution 884 (1993) of 11 November 1993, the Council condemned the occupation of the Zangelan district and the city of Goradiz, attacks on civilians and bombardments of the territory of the Azerbaijani Republic.  In all the above-mentioned  resolutions, the Council underscored respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of the Azerbaijani Republic, and the inadmissibility of using force to acquire territory.  It also demanded the immediate cessation of armed hostilities and hostile acts, and the immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces from the occupied areas of Azerbaijan.  Despite the unequivocal demands of the Security Council, the Republic of Armenia is today still holding on to occupied Azerbaijani territory and increasing its military presence there.

As a result of the aggression and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis from the territory of Armenia proper and from the occupied part of the territory of Azerbaijan, there are currently over 1 million refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan.  A total of 900 settlements have been looted and destroyed.  Over 9 million square metres of civilian housing, state enterprises and social facilities have been destroyed and burnt.  The total cost of the destroyed housing and the property removed therefrom amounts to tens of billions of dollars.  An extremely serious humanitarian situation has developed in Azerbaijan.

Every year hundreds of elderly people, women and children die in refugee camps as a result of diseases and epidemics.

The Armenian armed forces, backed by mercenary formations and Armenian terrorist groups, have killed over 18,000 people and wounded or maimed over 50,000.  Several thousand people are missing and extrajudicial executions and mass shootings of civilians have been carried out.  Kidnapped hostages held in Armenia and the occupied areas of Azerbaijan are doing forced labour and being made to endure inhumane treatment, beatings, torture and other gross violations of their human rights.

     According to information from the State Commission of the Azerbaijani Republic on prisoners of war, hostages and missing persons, as a result of Armenian aggression these categories comprised 4,674 Azerbaijani citizens as at 1 March 1996.  This total includes 314 women, 60 children and 252 elderly people (lists of missing women, children and elderly people are attached).  The State Commission knows the whereabouts of over 900 of these people, including 39 women, 12 children and 39 elderly people, in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijani territories.  The vast majority of them are being detained by the Armenian side without the knowledge of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and therefore do not appear on that organization’s lists.

The hostages and prisoners of war held by the Armenians, many of whom are considered missing persons since they are being concealed from the ICRC, are forced to do heavy physical labour, subjected to beatings and torture, and the sick and wounded are denied basic medical assistance.  The State Commission has learnt that 145 Azerbaijanis have died in Armenian captivity.  Four people, who endured indescribable degradation and suffering, died shortly after being released.

Ethnic cleansing of Armenian territory of its Azerbaijani inhabitants

The widespread settlement of Transcaucasia by Armenians began after tsarist Russia’s military conquest of the Caucasus.  Taking advantage of the changed demographic situation, the Armenians, under the tutelage of the rulers of tsarist Russia and, later, the communist leaders of the Soviet Union, encroached on the native Azerbaijani population in various parts of the region.

It is a matter of historical fact that in 1828-1829 alone, 130,000 Armenians were resettled out of Middle Eastern countries into the area now forming the Republic of Armenia; another 600,000 were resettled later. 

By 1918, the number of Azerbaijanis in what is now Armenia stood at 575,000 - more than a third of all the inhabitants of the area. But as a result of the Armenian Government’s deliberate policy of expelling the Azerbaijani population, there remains today in Armenia not a single Azerbaijani out of that half-million-strong community.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Khojaly, United Nations No Comments » April 2008