Appeal of Khojaly inhabitants to the world people, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide

Baku, February 20 (AzerTAc). We, the miraculously surviving eyewitnesses of the massacre committed by the Armenian nationalists in the town of Khojaly in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on 26 February, 1992, once again appeal to the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as well as the world countries on the 21st anniversary of the tragedy, and call on the whole progressive mankind, people who feel love in their hearts not to remain indifferent to this crime of genocide against humanity. Supported by their foreign patrons, Armenian extremist and nationalist circles have pursued a consistent annexationist policy against Azerbaijan over the last two centuries to realize their fantasies of “Great Armenia” at the cost of the historical lands of Azerbaijan. In order to achieve this treacherous goal, they have regularly resorted to such crimes as inhumane terrorist acts and massacre, deportation and genocide. Numerous historical documents clearly prove that in the years 1905-1907, 1918-1920 and 1948-1953, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis were subjected to ethnic cleansing, genocide and massive annihilation in their historical and ethnic territories in the Caucasus, and were deported from their native lands. All 250,000 Azerbaijanis living in their historical and ethnic lands in Armenia were deported in 1988-1989, with hundreds of peaceful civilians, including the old, women and children being brutally killed. As a result, Armenia turned into a mono-ethnic state that Armenians dreamed of for many years. In 1988, the unsubstantiated territorial claims against Azerbaijan emerged again, with the encouragement of the Armenian separatism in Nagorno-Karabakh, which had neither historical nor political grounds, resulting in bloody ethnic conflicts and mass fatalities in the region. Twenty percent of the territory of Azerbaijan, including seven districts beyond the administrative territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which were fully populated by Azerbaijanis until 1990, still remain under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces. The conflict saw the cruel expulsion of over a million of Azerbaijanis from their native homes, with tens of thousands of civilians killed or injured. Although nearly 1,400 Azerbaijanis have been released from the Armenian captivity so far, the fate of over 4,000 Azerbaijani citizens, being humiliated and tortured in prison camps in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, still remains unknown. Hundreds of cities and towns, thousands of social and cultural buildings, educational and healthcare facilities, historical and cultural monuments, museums, mosques, sacred places of worship and cemeteries were razed to the ground or subjected to unprecedented Armenian vandalism. In the early 1990s of the 20th century, Armenian gunmen massacred peaceful civilians in the Azerbaijani districts and villages in Karabakh, including Kerkijahan, Meshali, Gushchular, Garadaghly and Agdaban, and carried out a large number of terrorist acts in Baku and other cities of the country. On the night of February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed groups with the direct involvement of the regiment No 366 of the former Soviet army deployed at that time in the city of Khankendi in Nagorno-Karabakh, from 5 directions invaded the town of Khojaly populated by almost 7,000 Azerbaijanis (by the time of the attack there were about 3,000 people in the town). Until that day, the city had been encircled for over four months, with its population facing serious difficulties in food supply and medical service. There was a large number of wounded and sick people, the old, women and children in the town. On that night, the town of Khojaly was wiped off the face of the earth, with unarmed peaceful civilians subjected to massive carnage, and children, women and old and sick people brutally killed. The Armenian nationalists committed the Khojaly genocide, another historical crime against the civilized humanity at the end of the 20th century. The goal of this monstrous act was to annihilate the whole population of the town. It was purely by chance that many Khojaly residents survived to bear witness before the court of history. As a result of the Khojaly genocide, 613 peaceful civilians were killed, over 1,000 peaceful civilians became disabled after receiving gunshot wounds, and 1,275 people were taken hostage. The fate of 150 of them remains unknown. Of those massacred, 106 were women, 63 were children and 70 were old people. Of those disabled, 76 were under-age boys and girls. This military-political crime saw the complete annihilation of 8 families, with 25 children losing both parents, and 130 children losing one of their parents. Fifty-six people were killed with unprecedented brutality: they were burned alive, scalped, beheaded, parts of their bodies were cut off, their eyes were put out, and pregnant women were bayoneted into their stomach. It is hard to even imagine that the brutality and violence having no analogues in history were committed by human beings in the end of the 20th century before the eyes of the whole world! But the world must know that the perpetrators of this historical crime, which is against not only Azerbaijanis but also the whole civilized humanity, are the Armenian nationalists who present themselves to the world as “an oppressed and long-suffering nation”. With a sense of bitter regret, we inform you that the list of catastrophes happened in human history such as Khatyn, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Songmi, which are regarded as the most monstrous tragedies of the 20th century, is now supplemented by the Khojaly genocide. We, the residents of Khojaly who have been refugees for 21 years, with pain but also great hope in our hearts, appeal to all peace-loving people and nations of the world. We hope that such influential international organizations as the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as the powerful peace-loving nations, will urge Armenia, the aggressive country, which ignores the international law and the values common to all mankind, to face up to the truth and justice, and oblige it to establish civilized relations with neighboring states! Non-fulfillment of the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council on unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, first and foremost, causes a serious damage to the reputation of this organization, and means that Armenia dictates its own will to the international community. By supporting fair position of the Azerbaijani state in settlement of the conflict as well as peacemaking efforts of the leading countries and international organizations, we reiterate that Armenia`s aggressive political course, which contradicts basic principles of the international law, poses a serious threat to peace and security not only in the region, but in the globe. The international community must not be indifferent to this inevitable reality. Unfortunately, supporting aggressors and taking a double-standard approach to current political processes are a bitter reality of nowadays. We resolutely condemn the French Senate`s recent adoption of a law criminalizing the denial of the so-called Armenian genocide, and consider it a wrong move, which contradicts human rights and democracy. We call on some states and politicians, who supported this move, not to submit to biased political ambitions, and urge them to focus on the Khojaly genocide, the bloodiest page in our recent history, instead of distorting the truths of the remote past. We call on every person to stand for justice for the future of our troubled world. We express our confidence that the right voice of the Azerbaijani people, including we – the Khojaly residents – will finally be heard by the global community and it will resolutely condemn Armenia`s military aggression and groundless territorial claims against Azerbaijan and give an objective legal and political assessment to the Khojaly genocide. The Appeal was adopted at the general meeting of Khojaly IDPs held in Ashagy Aghjakend village, Goranboy region The Republic of Azerbaijan 18 February, 2013