COMMENTARY OF THE NKR MFA PRESS SERVICE
“Inter-community” format is unacceptable
Again, the Azerbaijani authorities implant actively the notion of “inter-community” aimed at distorting the essence of the Karabakh issue and transforming the actual trilateral format of the conflict into a bilateral one, which is favorable for official Baku.
The Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict is the consequence of official Baku's inability to display civilized approaches to the solution of the issue, which occurred as a result of the natural process of desintegration during the USSR collapse. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic, which had been established in full accordance with the then legislation and all the international norms, became an object of Azerbaijan’s full-scale aggression aimed at physical extermination of the NKR citizens. Having lost the war, which it had unleashed, Baku, unfortunately, became more sophisticated in its intrigues and provocations in the political sphere. The attempts to introduce the Karabakh conflict as “inter-community” are a propaganda trick of official Baku, trying to distract the international community from the real essence of the issue, which testifies again to Azerbaijani authorities' lacking a political will and desire for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The “inter-community” format pursues far-reaching goals, in particular, unilateral return of Azerbaijani refugees to Nagorno Karabakh without resolving the issue of the 500.000 Armenians deported from Azerbaijan; turning the issue of former «colony» and former «metropolis» into inter-ethnic problems of the region’s inhabitants, while it is a consequence of the general discrimination policy of the Azerbaijani authorities towards the Karabakh Armenians; ignoring the factor of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s being an entity, and introducing the established Karabakh state as a region in Azerbaijan’s structure with equal rights of two communities. On Baku's consideration, all the abovementioned should ultimately become the basis for the issue’s solution in the radically nonviable format of «self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh within Azerbaijan».
The Karabakh party considers the «inter-community» approach not only non-perspective, but also extremely dangerous, as it leads the peacemaking process to a deadlock and discredits the very idea of peacemaking, causing additional tension and non-confidence between the societies of the conflicting parties.
The attempt of artificial granting of this status to the Azerbaijani minority has no legal basis; it contradicts, in particular, the OSCE Budapest Summit resolution (1994) on the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh as an independent party to the conflict, without noting the «communities». The right of the Nagorno Karabakh population to self-determination didn't depend on the existence of consensus between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The former citizens of Nagorno Karabakh of Azerbaijani origin, to whom the Karabakh authorities gave the chance of participating in the voting and resolving the future fate of the region, preferred leaving Karabakh and becoming citizens of the newly proclaimed Azerbaijani Republic.A constructive dialogue between the NKR citizens and former Azerbaijani citizens of Nagorno Karabakh is possible only after the legal recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Only direct negotiations between the political leadership of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan can give specific results on the comprehensive settlement of the issue and establishment of long-term peace in the region.
09.12.2011
STATEMENT OF THE NKR MFA
on the recent initiatives of Azerbaijan and reaction of Baku related to the municipal elections in the NKR
October 1, 2011
COMMENTARY OF THE NKR MFA PRESS SERVICE
Investigating the report of the International Crisis Group (ICG) entitled ‘Armenia and Azerbaijan: preventing war’, one automatically comes to the conclusion that it was written exclusively for convincing Armenia to 'soften' its positions in the negotiation process, in particular, on the issue of the final status of Nagorno Karabakh.
As we know, the positions of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the negotiation process are presented today by the Republic of Armenia, in the part delegated to it by the NKR. But, all the actors of the peacemaking process, as well as the public sector, which is interested in the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, including the ICG, must consider the fact that the final decision should be made by the NKR people and authorities.
Another matter is the fairness of the report, which is written thousands of kilometers from Nagorno Karabakh and the authors of which haven’t visited the NKR at all, even for the sake of propriety. Let alone the fact that recently, Director of the ICG European Program Sabina Freiser has settled down in Istanbul, from where, basing on the publications in the mass media and often on unreal data, gives recommendations to the conflicting parties. But, only one visit to the NKR is enough for both comprehending the essence of the conflict and making sure of the Republic’s efficiency and viability.
Actually, the ICG offers to settle the conflict’s consequences and not the conflict itself, which just adds fuel to the fire in the conditions of extreme tension between the parties' societies. Sabina Freiser, maybe without realizing this, creates a new crisis situation, which, in fact, the Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem seeks for attempting to resolve on the quiet the issue in its own way. It isn't accidental that Freiser assigns Ankara the role of the basic regulator in the region and a mediator in the Karabakh issue settlement. So, it is time to rename the International Crisis Group into Crisis Creation Group.
Surely, those in Artsakh share the ICG concerns about the possible war resumption in any moment, which will lead to unprecedented destructive consequences for the entire region. But, similar reports should note the specific creators of the emerged explosive situation. The tension on the contact-line is the result of Azerbaijan's purposeful policy for the recent years. In the conditions of the increasing militant rhetoric and moods in Azerbaijan, the soft position of the mediators and foreign states' representatives is strange, while they had to flatly condemn President Aliev long ago, calling upon him to refuse of the policy of threats and to negotiate with the basic party to the conflict – the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Unfortunately, the ICG proposals cannot resolve principle conflicts. The tactics of small concessions in favor of the aggressive party will only whet its appetite.
War should be opposed by the NKR recognition and not by signing a frame agreement or other half measures. Speeding up the signing of an agreement on the basic principles, without the detailed elaboration of all its key provisions, will become ‘a delayed action mine' under the entire peace process.
In the current situation, the soonest realization of confidence-building measures, both military and civic, is needed. The international community should establish direct relations with Nagorno Karabakh. The NKR integration into the international processes is about the only tool in the international community's arsenal for resisting the situation's running into a new war. The international community's ignoring of the NKR in favor of Azerbaijan only strengthens the latter’s confidence of its own right to new aggression.
The international community should not repeat its mistake made in early 1990s, when the recognition of Azerbaijan’s right to self-determination and rejection of Nagorno Karabakh's similar right were accepted by Azerbaijan as a carte blanche for realizing wide-scale aggression against the NKR and suppressing its people's will. Isn't it time to learn a lesson from the past?
Stepanakert,
18.02.2011
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STATEMENT of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic concerning the referendum on the self-determination of South Sudan
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Republic of Artsakh) welcomes the referendum on the self-determination of South Sudan. The referendum in South Sudan testifies that the recognition and realization of peoples’ inalienable right to self-determination is the most optimal and democratic way of the peaceful settlement of similar conflicts. The conflicts between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Indonesia and East Timor were settled in the same way.
The NKR MFA emphasizes with satisfaction the position of the international community, which has exerted corresponding pressure on the central government in Khartoum and once again expressed its support of the implementation of nations’ right to self-determination as the basis for the declaration and further official recognition of the state independence.
The NKR MFA expresses hope that the referendum in South Sudan will result in the establishment of long-term peace and stability, which will allow to direct efforts to constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries of the region.
The NKR Foreign Ministry expects fair and firm consistency by the world powers in applying the same approach in relation to the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi and other similar conflicts, in the spirit of the modern tendencies of applying the international law and in accordance with the UN General Assembly’s December 2009 Resolution on the “Peoples’ Universal Right to Self-Determination”. In this connection, the NKR MFA reminds that the people of Artsakh enjoyed its right to self-determination yet in 1991, having declared for independence at the referendum, and confirmed its will in 2006, when adopting the NKR Constitution.
Тhe ignoring of the Nagorno Karabakh people’s right to independence by Azerbaijan and the international community's inaction led to Azerbaijan's full-scale aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, as a result of which tens of thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands underwent ethnic cleansings and deportations and became victims of the human rights' mass violations.
The international recognition of the results of the actually expressed will of the people of Artsakh is the shortest way to settle the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict, to consolidate the stability and security of the South Caucasian region and to create corresponding conditions for establishing civilized relations between the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The NKR Foreign Office states that people’s freedom and security are the supreme values in the modern world. Any efforts to impede the realization of the basic human rights should be considered regardless of the political conjuncture and should be given an unambiguous and strict assessment by the international community.
Stepanakert, January 24, 2011
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STATEMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC
Recently, Azerbaijan has intensified its attempts to cast doubt on the expediency of visiting the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) by foreign citizens.
The NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs states another destructive initiative of official Baku. The Azerbaijani leadership’s attempts to interfere with the processes concerning the interests of the neighboring Nagorno Karabakh Republic are groundless and must be considered as another manifestation of hostility towards our country.
For two decades, the NKR has developed as an independent and democratic state, which is able to defend its sovereignty and ensure all the democratic rights and liberties for its citizens. Since the declaration of its independence, our country has been visited by tens of thousands of guests from many states of the civilized world. Missions of international organizations, including NGOs, and business-companies constantly operate in the Republic. Annually, the NKR MFA registers average 15-percent increase of the number of tourists, which testifies to the sincere and increasing interest of the international community towards the Karabakh phenomenon.
Unfortunately, any testimony for the consolidation of the NKR statehood causes inadequate reaction by Baku, as a result of which the Azerbaijani authorities often resort to a state blackmail or other typical actions contradicting the modern system of international legal and moral standards.
The recent initiative is encroachment on the interests of the Karabakh people by Baku impeding confidence-building between the AR and NKR, which is a necessary term for an efficient settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.
The Azerbaijani leadership should refuse of its destructive steps and direct its political potential to the negotiations on the achievement of mutually acceptable peace and stability in the South Caucasus, with the consideration of the existing realities.
Stepanakert, January 21, 2011
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11-10-2010
In connection with the OSCE field mission being implemented in the territory of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the political parties, public organizations, and creative unions of Artsakh sent a message to OSCE Chairman-in-Office Kanat Saudabayev and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, which was passed the same day to Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.
Following is the text of the message:
TO: OSCE Chairman-in-Office Kanat Saudabaev
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen:
Ambassador Robert Bradtke – the United States of America
Ambassador Igor Popov – the Russian Federation
Ambassador Bernard Fassier – the French Republic
The reason for our appeal to you is the realization of the OSCE field assessment mission taking place now in the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic and the corresponding views and concerns existing in public-political life of our country.
The basic issue of the NKR population’s concern is the goal of this mission. If its real goal is indeed the assessment of the current humanitarian situation in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone it is at least strange why the field mission is implemented only in one section of this zone, in the NKR territory.
Appreciating your awareness of the history of the Karabakh issue, however, we consider it necessary remind you some facts and events, which played their role in the formation of the current humanitarian situation in the region.
The subordination of Nagorno Karabakh to the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) via wide regional autonomy was endorsed by the July 5, 1921 resolution of the Caucasian Bureau of the Communist (Bolshevik) Party.
Prior this the League of Nations left the resolution of the issue of internationally recognized status of Nagorno Karabakh upon the Paris Peace Conference.
At the same time only two years later, in 1923, after the urgent demands of the Armenian majority of NK and Soviet Armenia, the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR proclaimed the Autonomous Oblast (Region) of Nagorno Karabakh on the part of the predominantly Armenian populated region, which always constituted an integrated whole as well as deprived the town of Shoushi from its status of Karabakh’s capital.
For the whole period of the Soviet rule this unilateral resolution, which violated the interests of the Armenian majority of Nagorno Karabakh, caused constant indignation and complaints, which were sharply oppressed by the Azerbaijani authorities, and were leading to mass emigration of the Armenian population from the region.
Suffice it to say that within 25 years after the forced subordination to Azerbaijan the number of the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh declined by 22000 people, while the Azerbaijani population of the oblast (region) increased almost threefold.
The discrimination towards Nagorno Karabakh is also testified by the fact that during the war in 1941-1945, over a third of its population, 44000 people, were recruited to the active army and almost half of them perished. In percentage, such horrible human losses were suffered only by the nations that underwent through the fascist occupation and ethnic cleansing. To compare, it should be noted that only 20% of the population of the Azerbaijan SSR was recruited to the front.
The issue of Armenian expulsions from Nagorno Karabakh was always on the agenda of the Azerbaijani state policy. In 2001 during a meeting with a group of writers Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev stated proudly that within 1969-1982, while being the leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, he could “radically change the demographic situation in Nagorno Karabakh in favor of the Azerbaijanis”. This was one of the rare cases when president Aliyev said the truth.
Today, about a million of Karabakh Armenians live in various countries of the world. A considerable part of them was forced to leave the homeland for the reason of political persecution, real threats of physical extermination, and being deprived of the livelihood.
The last ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh took place in the regions of Shahoumyan and Getashen in 1991-1992 with the rough use of military force. As a result over 50000 Armenians were deprived of their homeland. Overall, 420000 Armenians were deported within 1988-1992 from Azerbaijan, having left in this country their property and wealth worth of billions of dollars and having got no compensation so far.
Unfortunately, Azerbaijan closed the window for a dialogue, resorting to violation. We had no other way but following the fundamental principles of international law proclaim our independence, create our national state institutes, and resist the military aggression, which led to destructions, tens of thousands of human losses and hardships.
Meanwhile, human sufferings of both the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis in the conflict zone could have been prevented if the Azerbaijani authorities had displayed elementary understanding of the Armenian population of the region.
Thus, the existing situation is the consequence of the war imposed by Azerbaijan. This is why the Azerbaijani authorities bear the full responsibility for the human losses.
The criminal style and anti-Armenian rhetoric, armament drive and militant statements still depict Azerbaijani ideology.
We hope that the structure, which has assumed the mediation between the parties to the conflict, realizes that such a style of actions does not contribute to the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and provokes a new war.
We have to remind that in the existing situation where the Karabakh party is deprived of the possibility of full-fledged participation in the negotiation process, Azerbaijan and the structure, which has assumed the settlement mission, will again be responsible for the consequences in case of resuming the war in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone.
We hope that your further mediation activities will not inflame the ill imagination of Azerbaijan suffering from a mania of new bloodshed, will sober it up and will contribute to the creation of an atmosphere of a civilized dialogue and to the peaceful settlement of the conflict.
The Free Motherland Party
The Democratic Party of Artsakh
Artsakh organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) Party
The Armenakan Party of Artsakh
The Nagorno Karabakh Communist Party
The Union of the Relatives of Perished in the Artsakh War
Union of the Relatives of the Artsakh War Missing in action Soldiers
Nagorno Karabakh Committee of the Helsinki Initiative-92
Artsakh Union of Writers
Artsakh Union of Journalists
Artsakh Union of Painters
Artsakh Union of Intelligentsia
Vita organization of the Artsakh War Disable Freedom Fighters
The NKR Union of Refugees
The Union of War and Labor Veterans
Federation of NKR Trade Unions
Stepanakert,
October 11, 2010
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STATEMENT
OF THE COUNCIL OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC
In connection with the decision on conducting an OSCE Field Assessment Mission on the liberated territories of the NKR, members of the NKR Council of NGOs consider it necessary to state that:
We perceive the OSCE Field Assessment Mission as an action, which is escalating tension in the region of the conflict and which is not expected to contribute to the process of the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.
While official Baku is voicing threats against the NKR and its people and the Azerbaijani leadership is continuously threatening with a resumption of war, while during the last few months the Line of Contact is being under heavy fire on a daily basis and people are dying, while the Azerbaijani armed forces keep on attempting reconnaissance and sabotage actions in the territory of the NKR, while Baku only confirms its aggressive intentions with its flat refusal to withdraw snipers from the Line of Contact, the OSCE Minsk Group mediators instead of dealing with all these issues are organizing a mission, which looks like an attempt to appease the aggressive party.
We, the representatives of the Artsakh public, do not understand why the war rhetoric of the Azerbaijani leaders and the aggressive behavior of the Azerbaijani armed forces, threatening to escalate into a large-scale war, remain out of the attention and the adequate targeted assessment of the OSCE Minsk Group. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, which assumed responsibility for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, have to make every effort to prevent violence and any kind of activity, provoking an escalation of tension.
Moreover, it is absolutely clear that Baku will use the results of the OSCE Field Assessment Mission to intensify the information war, just as the political readership of Azerbaijan is continuing its cynical speculations over the results of the work of previous OSCE Missions.
The one-sided character of the upcoming OSCE Field Assessment Mission, in our opinion, also cannot give a positive impulse to the process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement.
For the mission to be able to give a complete picture, it should also simultaneously take place in the territories of the NKR, occupied by Azerbaijan.
The Field Assessment Mission should also draw the attention of the public to the facts of vandalism towards the Armenian historical and cultural monuments in these territories, aimed at the destruction of any historical and cultural evidence of continued Armenian presence in those lands, including through populating these territories with Azerbaijanis.
We protest against the mediators` disregard of the rights of the Armenian refugees and displaced persons.
Besides, Armenians that have once been deprived of their Homeland by being forcibly expelled from Azerbaijan and found shelter on the liberated territories again will be subjected to psychological pressure and stress and for some reason to maintain their right to life on this land.
We strongly believe that any decision should be based on parity, as well as proceed from the principles of equal rights and justice, accommodating the opinions of all societies involved in the conflict, and most importantly, it should serve to prevent tension and violence and establish lasting peace.
7 October, 2010
***COMMENTARY OF THE NKR MFA PRESS SERVICE
During the last visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen to Stepanakert, French mediator Bernard Fassier, answering the journalists' questions, stated that «...we crossed the contact-line and not the border».
Mr. Fussier is an experienced diplomat and he wasn't mistaken saying that the Co-Chairmen had crossed the contact-line and not the border, for two reasons. First, the OSCE MG Co-Chairmen crossed the contact-line of the NKR and AR armed forces from the NKR territory proper under Azerbaijan's occupation so far. And second, this is the section of the contact-line that is gradually turning into a confrontation-line of the NKR and AR armed forces, due to the persistent and aggressive efforts of Azerbaijan.
Just on this reason, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen conducted personally the monitoring, crossing the contact-line and aiming at the reduction of confrontation between the NKR and AR armed forces.
09.09.2010
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Statement of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs related to the resolution of the UN International Court on the independence of Kosovo
By its resolution of July 22, 2010, the International Court of Justice confirmed and legally endorsed that the right of nations to self-determination and its realization do not violate any principle or norm of the general international law, including the principle of territorial integrity.
This resolution is of extremely legal, political and moral, as well as universal precedent-related significance and cannot be limited just with Kosovo's example.
Having realized its right to the creation of an independent state, the Artsakh people was forced to confront the military aggression organized by Azerbaijan, as a result of which thousands of people perished, tens of thousands were deported and became refugees. The international community hasn’t properly assessed these actions so far.
In the conditions of confronting the aggressive policy of Azerbaijan, the Artsakh people continues building a civil and democratic state, which has become a component of the regional security system in the South Caucasus.
The right of the Artsakh people to build and possess its own state and to be the master of its own fate, will be, surely, recognized by the international community, as it was realized in full accordance with the basic principles of international law, is just and is achieved through much suffering.
Stepanakert, July 24, 2010
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Commentary of the NKR MFA Press Service
The events of late February 1988 in the town of Sumgait shocked the international community with their savagery and brutality. They became an embodiment of the Azerbaijani authorities’ policy of hatred towards Armenians conducted within the whole soviet period.
Unfortunately, the pogroms organized and implemented in Sumgait on February 27-29 on a top state level haven’t got corresponding political or legal assessment, and their organizers and basic executors haven’t only avoided any punishment, but they still occupy top positions in Azerbaijan. The official structures of the USSR hurried to put veto on the «sumgait» issue, artificially dividing the mass massacre of Armenians into separate crimes. In other words, the committed genocide was veiled, and its organizers and executors were shielded on an official level.
The policy of concealment towards the genocide in Sumgait made possible conducting ethnic cleansing in the whole territory of the Republic by the Azerbaijani SSR authorities and led to further unleashing a wide-scale military aggression against the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Having suffered a crushing defeat in its unleashed war, official Baku is not going to learn a lesson from the recent past and keeps on intensifying its military rhetoric.
Official Baku's unwillingness to face the truth only distances the prospect of confidence building between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, without which the Karabakh conflict settlement and solution of other regional issues are impossible.
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STATEMENT OF THE NKR MFA PRESS SERVICE
The anti-Armenian campaign in connection with the regular anniversary of the tragic events in the settlement of Khojaly, which has set everybody’s teeth on edge for a long time, has gained an unprecedented scope this year in Azerbaijan. In connection with the insinuations of official Baku, the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic considers it necessary to remind that a military operation was organized on February 25-26, 1992 with the aim of unblocking the only airport in the Republic situated near the settlement of Khojaly and neutralizing the fire-points of the enemy just in Khojaly, from where, beginning from spring 1991, the settlements of Nagorno Karabakh were regularly attacked by the Azerbaijani OMON-members and exposed to artillery bombardment, including from «Grad» rocket launchers – weapon of mass destruction (WMD) prohibited by numerous international conventions.
Fulfilling a vital goal for the Karabakh people, the units of the NKR self-defense forces, attacking Khojaly, provided a corridor for the civilians' safe leaving the military activities zone, about which the Azerbaijani party was informed beforehand. This fact was repeatedly confirmed by the Azerbaijani officials, in particular, the then President Ayaz Mutalibov. But, the Azerbaijani authorities made nothing for the peaceful population's withdrawal from the military activities area. Moreover, a column of civilians was shot down at the approaches to the Aghdam region’s border, which was later confirmed by Mutalibov, connecting this criminal act with the opposition’s attempts to remove him from his position, making him responsible for the events.
The territory, where pictures of numerous corpses were made, is in a three-kilometer distance from the town of Aghdam and in 11 kilometers from Khojaly. Up to the summer of 1993, this territory was under permanent control of the Azerbaijani armed forces, which excluded any access for the units of the Karabakh self-defense forces.
«The Azerbaijani official propaganda tries to blame Armenians for the killing of the civil population of Khojaly, but even Azerbaijani President Mutalibov admitted that “Armenians still provided a corridor for the civilians' leaving the place», the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta from April 2, 1992 wrote. Also, Ogonyok journal (#14-15, 1992) noted that «...the attack of Khojaly wasn't sudden».
Some details of that military operation are still shrouded in mystery, which is actively speculated by the Azerbaijani state propagandistic machine, using various falsifications, forgeries, and obvious lie. Last year, the NKR MFA drew the public attention to the false photo placed at some Azerbaijani websites, including the one of a generator of false ideas – The Heydar Aliyev Fund (www.azerbaijan.az). In fact, the photo related immediately to the events in Kosovo and just as such, along with numerous others, was introduced at the Serbian, Albanian, and one of the specialized German forums, at the site of The New York Times authoritative journal, and others. This year, new forgeries have been added to the noted one. Thus, about 20 false photos used by the Azerbaijani party, in particular, those of the victims of the Kurdish pogroms in Turkey, the victims of the massacre in Srebrennitsa, and others, were introduced during the February 24 presentation of the www.xocali.net project in Yerevan. Besides, outrageous falsifications were discovered in the lists of the Aghdam tragedy victims introduced by the Azerbaijani official structures – embassies, the presidential library, etc. Also, the site provides video-films about the interrogations of the Turks-Meskhetians, which testify that despite the Armenian party's warning of the Khojaly attack, the Azerbaijani servicemen banned the escape of the Turks-Meskhetians' families, which were artificially settled there by the Azerbaijani authorities.
The Azerbaijani propaganda tries to introduce the betrayal of the Khojaly civilians by their high-rank compatriots as the Armenians' revenge for the bloody orgy in Sumgait.
But, the remarks and assessments of the Khojaly events by some Azerbaijani top officials, human rights activists, and journalists refute flatly the false thesis of official Baku. Thus, Azerbaijani human rights activist Arif Yunusov wrote: «The town and its citizens were deliberately made victims of the political goal – to prevent the Azerbaijani Popular Front’s coming to power” (Azerbaijani Zerkalo newspaper, July 1992).
Tamerlan Karayev, in due time Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijani Republic (now AR Ambassador to India), testified: «The tragedy was implemented by the Azerbaijani authorities», specifically «some of the top officials» (Mukhalifat Azerbaijani newspaper, April 28, 1992).
Heydar Aliyev admitted himself that «the former leadership of Azerbaijan is also guilty” of the Khojaly events. According to Bilik-Dunyasi Agency, still in April 1992 he expressed a cynically monstrous idea: “The bloodshed will do good to us. We shouldn’t interfere in the course of the events». Did the «father» of Azerbaijan bear the responsibility for these words?
Czech journalist Yana Mazalova who, by the Azerbaijanis’ oversight, found herself in both groups of the mass media representatives, which were shown the «corpses defiled by Armenians», noted a sufficient difference in the latters' condition. Visiting the field immediately after the events, Mazalova didn't see any traces of barbarity on the corpses. And two days later, the journalists were shown the disfigured bodies already «prepared» for filming.
The Russian Megalopolis-Express newspaper wrote: «We cannot but admit that if the Azerbaijani Popular Front had really far-reaching goals, so it has achieved them. Mutalibov is compromised and dismissed, the international community is shocked, the Azerbaijanis and the friendly Turks believed in the so-called «genocide of the Azerbaijani population in Khojaly».
As it is known, still on February 26, 47 Armenian hostages were kept in Khojaly, which is deliberately concealed by the Azerbaijani mass media. After liberating Khojaly, there were only 13 of them (among them 6 women and a child), while the rest 34 were taken away in an unknown direction by the Azerbaijanis. So far, there is no information about there further fate. We only know that they were taken away from the village in the operation night, but they didn't enter Aghdam.
It is evident that those who wanted to make a semblance of the corpses' defilement by Armenians disfigured, first of all, the bodies of the Armenian hostages in order that they couldn’t be identified. Just for this purpose, the majority of the corpses were undressed, and just for this purpose, the victims' bodies were exposed to outrages, which changed them out of all recognition.
Proceeding from the abovementioned facts, we can confidently state that the Azerbaijani party is guilty of the death of the civilians of Khojaly and the Armenian hostages kept there, and that the Azerbaijani party committed a monstrous crime against its own people for the sake of its political intrigues and struggle for power.
It is already obvious for everybody that the «genocide» of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly is a myth created still by Heydar Aliyev and taken up by his throne-successor Aliyev-the-junior in order to draw the international community's attention away from the massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, and many other populated-by-Armenians settlements, as well as to conceal the political, humanitarian, military, economic, and other penal offences of the Azerbaijani leadership against Armenian civilians and against its own people.
25.02.2010
STATEMENT OF THE POLITICAL FORCES OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC
On January 19, the political forces of the NKR National Assembly, in particular, “Democracy”, “Motherland”, and “ARFD-Movement-88” factions, issued a statement related to the January 1990 Armenian massacres in Baku.
Following is the full text of the statement.
Twenty years ago, massacre of the Armenian population was organized and coolly implemented on the state level in the capital city of the then official Soviet Azerbaijan – Baku. Thousands of innocent people - women, children and old people - were killed with extreme brutality, and tens of thousands of people, suffering from heavy physical wounds and moral shock, were deported and deprived of their homeland.
In fact, the January massacres in Baku became the finale of the violations and deportations committed towards the native and state-making Armenian population of the Eastern Transcaucasia in 1905-1906, 1918-1920, and 1988-1990. It was the specific response of the Azerbaijani authorities to the peaceful, just, and legal right of the Nagorno Karabakh people to worthy life in their homeland, which took place with the criminal connivance of the USSR authorities.
We, the representatives of the political forces of the National Assembly of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, condemning once again the violations committed towards Armenians in Azerbaijan during the whole 20th century, as a result of which the native Armenian population was deprived of its inalienable right to state self-organization, in particular, the massacres, which started on January 13, 1990 in Baku, assess them as:
-a fact of mass violation of the human rights and freedoms, first of all, the right to life;
-evident demonstration of the Azerbaijani state policy of xenophobia, national intolerance, and ethnic cleansing;
-the heaviest crime committed against the humanity on the state level – Genocide, the responsibility for which, according to the international law, has no time limitation.
The Nagorno Karabakh Republic will seek the legal assessment of the violations, deportations and ethnic cleansing implemented in Azerbaijan and the punishment of the organizers, regardless of their current political and public position and residence.
As demonstration of this legal and just intention, we call upon the UN, EU, OSCE, and member-states of the OSCE Minsk Group:
-to hold an impartial investigation of the violations committed towards the Armenian population in Baku between January 13 and January 20 and give the legal assessment to the actions of the organizers and executors of the crime;
-not to equate the crimes organized on the state level in peaceful conditions with the privations, which the region's peoples suffered due to the war unleashed by Azerbaijan.
To avoid further undesirable developments, we demand to condemn and use corresponding penalties towards the criminal state. This is not only the right of the sufferer, but also the duty of the international structures, as Genocide is a crime against the humanity.
COMMENTARY OF THE NKR MFA PRESS SERVICE
January 13, 2010 is the 20th anniversary of the Armenian pogroms in Baku, which had become the direct and logical continuation of the massacre of Armenians in February 1988 in another Azerbaijani city – Sumgait reputed to be “international”.
The unpunished evil was repeated, still on an expanded scale. The January 13-19, 1990 massacre in Baku, with the use of the most brutal and subtle methods of killing people, completed the ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani capital from Armenians – representatives of one of the state-constituting nations of the country, a nation representing the pride and fame of Baku. Thousands of Armenians in Baku deceased or became handicapped, and hundreds of thousands became refugees. Mainly children, old people, and women became victims of the really fascist atrocities.
The Armenian issue was resolved via the experienced Turkish tool – genocide, with the connivance of the central Soviet authorities, with the silent consent and participation of the Azerbaijani SSR leadership. And while the Soviet troops «were late» for 3 hours in Sumgait, they «were late» for a whole week in Baku, entering the city only when actually no Armenians were left there.
The monstrous crime in Baku hasn’t got any political, legal or moral estimation so far. The very fact of the Azerbaijani authorities’ concealment of the atrocities against Armenians is outrageous cynicism. The lack of even a shadow of repentance, moreover, the increasing threats towards the Armenian people confirm that «bakus», «sumgaits», and «kirovabads» are still on the agenda of Azerbaijan's official policy. And all this is witnessed by the international community, which probably isn't going to take lessons from the past – as just the connivance of the international community made possible the bloody bacchanalia, which covered the whole territory of the AzSSR and achieved its peak in January 1990 in Baku.
The Armenian pogroms in Baku are one of the convincing grounds for the impossibility of Nagorno Karabakh(Artsakh) Republic’s being part of Azerbaijan.
The atrocities towards Armenians, which were systematically organized by the Azerbaijani authorities during the whole 20th century, emphasize once again the rightness of the Artsakh people struggling for freedom and defense of its primordial rights.Statement of the MFA of NKR
Due to the recent developments around the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers it essential to issue the following statement:
The NKR stance on the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement is stable. It is impossible to achieve the conflict settlement, ignoring the existing reality. Any attempts to return the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to the past are not only counterproductive, but are also fraught with new escalation of the conflict. Real progress at the negotiations is possible only under the Karabakh party’s equal participation in all the stages of the negotiation process. No agreement regarding the interests, fate, and future of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic can be adopted without the participation of its people and leadership, which bears the principal responsibility for it.
We hope that all the actors interested in the peaceful settlement will prevent any violation of the status-quo in the region caused by the intensification of the negotiation process on the basis of the current settlement wording.
Proceeding from the abovementioned, we consider it required to reset the distorted negotiation process, to return the NKR to the negotiation table as an equal party to the negotiation process, and to transform the basic principles of the settlement.
15.07.2009
Azerbaijan keeps on gambling the “khodjalu” topic
The traditional anti-Armenian campaign connected with the events of 1992 in Khodjalu settlement begins in Azerbaijan. At that, the official Azerbaijani propaganda does not disdain to use any methods and means to display the Armenian side as a party responsible for the tragedy and to inject another portion of poison of Armenian phobia into the world public consciousness and the consciousness of its own people. Moreover, Baku goes on circulating the already unmasked frauds.
Thus, next year the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic drew the public’s attention to a forged photograph exposed in a number of Azerbaijani websites, including the website of “Heydar Aliyev Foundation”, which is very respectable in Azerbaijan (www.azerbaijan.az). It has been mentioned, that the propaganda machine of the neighboring republic tries to use the fact that besides a great number of corpses of civilians in the foreground of the photograph, outskirts of a settlement are seen in the background, which, in principle, should add verisimilitude to Baku’s version on mass killings of Azerbaijanis in Khodjalu. Meanwhile, color version of the above-mentioned photograph absolutely refutes it, namely the faces of the deceased, their garments, etc. In fact, this photograph is directly connected with the events in Kosovo. Namely as that the photograph along with a great number of the others was exhibited in one Serbian, one Albanian, and in one specialized German forum, in internet-page of reputable edition “New York Times” etc.
However, the mentioned undisguised fraud still remains in a number of Azerbaijani sites, thus deluding those uninformed. Booklets with similar fraud are circulating all over the world.
The NKR MFA Information Department reminds that on February 25-26, 1992, the Karabakhi side launched a military operation to release the only airport of the republic, situated near Khodjalu settlement and to neutralize the weapon emplacements of the enemy in Khodjalu, from where since summer of 1991 the populated areas of Nagorno Karabakh have been regularly exposed to attacks of the Azerbaijani special police squads (OMON), artillery bombardments from “Alazan”, “Crystal” and rocket facility of volley fire “Grad”.
The release of the airport and neutralization of weapon emplacements of enemy in Khodjalu was of vital importance for the NKR people. The subunits of the NKR Defense Army granted a corridor to the peaceful population for safe and timely leaving the battle zone and the Azerbaijani side was informed of it beforehand. It is well-known that the NKR authorities informed the Azerbaijani side of preparation for the neutralization of the Khojalu weapon emplacements two months prior to the operation and that was repeatedly confirmed by the officials of Azerbaijan, in particular, by the then president Ayaz Mutalibov.
However, the leadership of Azerbaijan did not undertake anything to help the peaceful population to leave the battle zone. Moreover, a column of peaceful population was shot near the border of Aghdam region, which was later on confirmed by Mutalibov, who connected the crime with the opposition’s efforts to remove him from the office by making him responsible for everything.
The territory where subsequently many corpses were filmed is 3 km far from Aghdam and 11 km from Khojalu. Up to the fall of Aghdam (summer 1993) this area was under permanent control of the Azerbaijani units, which excluded the access of the Karabakhi self -defense units there.
Some details of this military operation are so far shrouded in mystery and namely using this circumstance official Baku tries to profit from it to gain its political goals.
It is noteworthy, that all the propaganda is being carried out with pronounced anti-Armenian insinuations and is used for forcing ethnic intolerance and hatred towards Armenians among Azerbaijanis.
Unfortunately, the topic of “khodjalu” remains to be one of the cornerstones of the Azerbaijani domestic and foreign information or rather misinformation policy within the context of the Karabakh problem in general.
NKR MFA Information Department