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The Karabakh conflict has not faded since 1992. In April of the last year, the Azerbaijani regime initiated active military action in Karabakh. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic lives in an atmosphere of war and all the residents are ready to take up arms and fight for their country again, Italian website Panorama reports. 
On December 1991, using their right to freedom of expression and self-determination, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh held a referendum and declared independence. The referendum was followed by a real military intervention in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by Azerbaijan.

For a year, NKR capital Stepanakert’s civilian population was under the direct fire of rocket launcher “Grad” and was subject to bombardment with cluster bombs by the Azerbaijani aviation. Armenia’s role in the armed phase of the conflict was to protect the civilian population and to provide humanitarian, economic, and diplomatic assistance. NKR Self-Defense Forces were involved in the military operations.

It is noted in the article that the events in Khojaly are one of the terrible pages of the Karabakh conflict; however, the Azerbaijani regime’s statements about the alleged “genocide” are false. 

It is emphasized in the article that the Azerbaijani authorities control the country’s media outlets and all the information. The regime in Baku is one of the most authoritarian in the world, and Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev has taken up his post for the third time after inheriting the power from his father.

As for Khojaly events, the “facts” presented by Azerbaijani and several western sources about the alleged “Khojaly genocide” are a clear manipulation of information.

It is highlighted in the article that days before February 25, 1992, the commanders of the NKR Self-Defense Forces informed the Azerbaijani authorities and the civilian population by radio about the inevitability of the military operation for the neutralization of the firing point and the humanitarian corridor left for the evacuation of the civilian population.

Referring to Azerbaijani sources, the Italian website writes that Khojaly resident Salman Abbasov confirms the fact of the warning by radio. He also confirms that the local authorities did not allow evacuating the population. “When it was already possible to evacuate women, children, and elderly people, the Azerbaijanis did not let us do it,” Abbasov said.

It is known from the Azerbaijani sources that the then mayor of Khojaly, Elman Mammadov, was aware of the attack and asked for helicopters, however, the authorities in Baku did not help him at all.

Azerbaijani MP Ramiz Fataliev’s (Chairman of the commission investigating the events) statements are also remarkable. According to him, four days before the Khojaly events, during the meeting of the of the National Security Council of Azerbaijan, in the presence of the president, Prime Minister, KGB head and others, it was decided not to evacuate civilians from Khojaly.

It is noted in the article that the evidence speaks about the fact that the civilian population served as a human shield for the Azerbaijani authorities for protecting the firing point.

In this regard, an extract from the former Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutallibov’s interview is presented. In the interview, he, in fact, confirms that the events were organized by the Azerbaijani opposition in order to overthrow him. “The general picture of the events is that the Armenians really left the corridor, through which people could leave. Why did they have to shoot in this case? Moreover, at a territory near Aghdam, where at that time there were enough forces in order to help people,” the former president stated.

Ayaz Mutallibov’s interview, which was printed in the newspaper “Novoe Vremya” on March 6, 2001, read: “It was obvious that someone had organized the slaughter in order to change the power in Azerbaijan.” Thereby, Mutallibov hinted at the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, the groups of which were placed near Khojaly.

Several Azerbaijani public figures and journalists also made statements and remarks of the kind. However, the Azerbaijani ruling regime led by president Ilham Aliyev spreads Armenophobia with the help of its “truth” about Khojaly. Those, who dared to challenge the “truth,” were either arrested or killed. All this and using the civilians as a shield makes Azerbaijan’s criminal liability more obvious. Figures also show the same: according to SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), during the last seven years, Azerbaijan’s military expenditure increased by 2500%. These data are compatible with Nazi Germany’s rearmament in the 1930s.

Thia fact, frequent violations of the ceasefire agreement signed in 1994, Azerbaijani ruling elite’s obvious military statements, and dissemination of Armenophobia in the schools of the country certainly represent a huge obstacle for the negotiation process under the mediation of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Currently, Azerbaijan refuses to negotiate directly with the democratically elected government of Artsakh and is negative towards the offers of the OSCE to withdraw snipers from the contact line and create a collaborative mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations. Armenia, on the other hand, intends to come to the resolution of the conflict through negotiations. This decision excludes military action for achieving the ultimate goal. The international community shares this position.

The article ends with the first soviet Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov’s words: “Peace, Progress, Human Rights - these three goals are insolubly linked to one another: it is impossible to achieve one of these goals if the other two are ignored.”

On February 26, 1992, during the Karabakh war, around 200 to 300 people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances near the city of Aghdam. They were deliberately withheld by the Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions. The authorities of Azerbaijan intentionally kept the population in the village for months by force and did not evacuate them in order to use them as human shields later as the village was one of the firing points for shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others).

The residents of Khojaly, coming out through the humanitarian corridor the self-defense forces of the NKR had left open, freely passed more than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani troops. Later, dead bodies of the villagers were foundnot far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops. The exact death toll remains unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other. Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev, the investigative materials are kept secret.

Armine Adibekyan: Baku sole purpose to discredit Armenia 


The People’s Democratic Party of Turkey refuses to preach falsehoods about Khojaly events 


Armenian Ambassador to Italy advises his Azerbaijani colleague to study facts about Karabakh conflict from objective sources