Baku, 26 February 2023 (GNP): The terrible genocide carried out at Khojaly by Armenian troops on February 26, 1983, has been commemorated for 31 years.
The genocide committed against the inhabitants of Khojaly town, where more than 7,000 people lived before the conflict, was one of the most serious crimes against civilians committed during Armenia’s decades-long aggression against Azerbaijan and one of the most tragic chapters in that country’s history.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan released a statement to mark the 31st anniversary of the Khojlay genocide committed by the armed forces of Armenia. It mentions that Azerbaijanis were slain with particular genocide and massacres were carried out against them at places including Baganis Ayrim, Garadagli, Meshali, Karkijahan, Malibeyli, and Garadaghli under the context of Armenia’s occupation policy as part of a premediated plan prior to the Khojaly genocide.
Armed forces from Armenia entirely encircled the town of Khojaly starting in October 1991. The 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the former USSR, which was primarily made up of Armenians, assisted Armenia’s military forces in occupying Khojaly during the course of the night of February 25–26, 1992, following a heavy artillery barrage.
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5,379 town residents were forcibly ejected as a result of the occupation. 613 individuals were brutally killed, including 70 old persons, 106 women, and 63 children. 487 people were hurt, 1,275 were abducted as hostages and subjected to torture.
There are still questions about the whereabouts of 150 of those who were taken, including 68 women and 26 kids. Families were torn apart by the military operations of Armenia. 8 households were entirely destroyed. 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one.
The Khojaly genocide, which involved the mass murder of civilians, was a result of Armenia’s long-standing policy of racial discrimination, ethnic hate, and organised aggression against Azerbaijan.
The Khojaly genocide and other crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed by Armenia during its invasion against the Republic of Azerbaijan, are grave breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law. They include transgressions of the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention against Torture, and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, among other conventions.
The national legislative bodies of 18 countries, 24 US States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Organization of Turkic States have all passed resolutions and decisions thus far denouncing the killing of civilians in Khojaly and describing it as a crime against humanity and an act of genocide.
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In its decision on April 22, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights came to an important conclusion about the atrocities committed in Khojaly and denounced the actions of the perpetrators as acts of extreme seriousness that may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.
States have an obligation under international law to look into crimes like those committed at Khojaly by Armenian forces and bring charges against those responsible. Nevertheless, Armenia hasn’t yet brought any of the perpetrators of the crimes in Khojaly to justice.
Serzh Sargsyan, the former president and defence minister of Armenia, was described by the British journalist Thomas de Waal as admitting responsibility in the following way: “before Khojali, the Azerbaijanis 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 (New York and London, New York University Press, 2003), p. 172).
From September 27 to November 10, 2020, military activities carried out by Armenia continued to deliberately target the civilian population in Azerbaijan. Armenia employed the same terror strategies they had used in 1992, deliberately focusing on the civilian populace and civilian infrastructure of Azerbaijani cities like Ganja, Barda, and Terter, which are located a great distance from the conflict.
Cluster bombs and multiple launch rocket systems were used by Armenia once more to unfairly target and murder innocent Azerbaijani civilians who were quietly living in their own country.
The Republic of Azerbaijan is certain that ongoing national and legal actions will help put an end to impunity and identify and prosecute those responsible for severe crimes perpetrated during Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijan government says Khojaly genocide must be adjudicated legally, and those responsible for this awful atrocity must be punished appropriately. The Khojaly tragic victims are permanently etched on their collective memory, and they pay tribute to their memories.