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Azerbaijani diplomacy and propaganda continue to mislead the international community as well as the society of Azerbaijan by falsifying the essence and history of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, specifically Aghdam events. It is said in the statement released yesterday by Armenian embassy to Unites States. The statement has been published by several American competent media agencies such as the Sacramento Bee, Digital Journal, One News Page, L.A. Biz, Ulitzer, the Street etc.

By distorting the Khojaly events, Azerbaijani regime attempts to escape the responsibility for the Armenian massacres in Sumgait (February, 1988), Kirovabad (November, 1988), Baku (January, 1990), Maragha (April 1992) and slaughter of its own population in Khojaly, the document states.

“Azerbaijan strives to portray itself as a victim, thus trying to prepare a moral ground both domestically and internationally to unleash another war against Nagorno Karabakh,” it is said in the statement.

The Armenian embassy has noted that Azerbaijan rejects all international appeals, including the appeal by the European Court of Human Rights, to openly debate about Aghdam events of 1992. “In that regard one can only ask why all who have expressed points of views differing from Azerbaijani official version of the events have been either killed, like journalist Mustafaev, or imprisoned like journalist Fatullayev, or politically persecuted like Ayaz Mutalibov, the first president of Azerbaijan?” the statement reads.

“In reality Khojaly was one of the Azerbaijani strongholds in the heart of Nagorno-Karabakh which for many months as Human Rights Watch put it pounded the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, Stepanakert (http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hsw-07.htm#TopOfPage). The indiscriminate shelling and sniper shooting killed or maimed hundreds of civilians, destroyed homes, hospitals and other objects that are not legitimate military targets, and generally terrorized the civilian population. Therefore, suppressing the Azerbaijani fire had become a matter of survival for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” it is said in the statement of the embassy.

As Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev noted “And even several days prior to the attack, the Armenians had been continuously warning the population about the planned operation through loudspeakers and suggesting that the civilians abandon the town and escape from the encirclement through a humanitarian corridor. According to the Khojaly refugees' own words, they had used this corridor and, indeed, the Armenian soldiers positioned behind the corridor had not opened fire on them."

However, goes on Fatullayev "... part of the Khojaly inhabitants had been fired upon by our own [Azerbaijani troops]... Whether it was done intentionally or not is to be determined by investigators ... [They were killed] not by [some] mysterious [shooters], but by provocateurs from the battalions of the National Front of Azerbaijan ... [The corpses] had been mutilated by our own ..."

According to the statement, Ayaz Mutalibov, then the president of Azerbaijan blamed his political opponents for killings in Khojaly. He stated in an interview that "...the corridor, by which people could escape, had nonetheless been left by the Armenians. So, why did they have to open fire? Especially in the area around Aghdam, where there was sufficient force at that time to get help to the people. As the Khojali inhabitants, who narrowly escaped, say, it was all organized in order to have grounds for my resignation. Some forces functioned for the effort to discredit the president"

“The fact that Khojaly inhabitants felt victim of fierce domestic political strife for power in Azerbaijan was confirmed also by then Chairman of Azerbaijan's Supreme Council Karayev and his successor Mamedov, Azerbaijani Human Rights Activist Yunusov and others,” the diplomatic mission of Armenia emphasized.

Heydar Aliyev, then a presidential hopeful in Azerbaijan stated that "…the bloodshed will profit us. We should not interfere in the course of events"

“Eynulla Fatullayev, the Chief Editor of the Azerbaijani newspaper "Realny Azerbaijan" spent many years in prison for alleged defamation of inhabitants of Khojaly. He appealed to the European court of Human Rights, which ruled that the Azerbaijani government shall immediately release Fatullayev. He was eventually released in 2011 and shortly after confirmed to Radio Liberty that he has not changed his views on Khojaly events and held "Azerbaijani fighters, not Armenians, responsible for the 1992 killings" of Khojaly inhabitants” the statement reads.

The Armenian embassy has noted that The Azerbaijani aggressive rhetoric and distortion of history, backed by the billions worth acquisition of offensive weaponry, bares serious threat to the security and stability for the whole region and thus should be adequately countered by the international community.