Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijan has identified the burial places of civilians killed by the Armenian armed forces in Kalbajar region's Bashlibel village during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

The Prosecutor General's Office reported on April 24 that it received information about the crimes committed by the Armenian armed forces against the civilian population in the village of Bashlibel, Kalbajar region... and the burial places of those who were brutally murdered have been identified.

The report added that the Prosecutor-General's Office along with representatives of other relevant state agencies had "started excavations to find the bodies of those killed".

The law-enforcement agency stressed that on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's instruction, intensive investigative measures are being taken to fully and comprehensively investigate such crimes.

On April 18, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev commemorated the Bashlibel massacre committed by the Armenian troops in Kalbajar region 28 years ago.

"28 years [have passed] since the Bashlibel tragedy. Dozens of civilians, including women, children, elderly couldn't escape the massacre by Armenian forces in the occupation of Kalbajar in 1993. Those who can't leave sought refuge in mountain caves for days," Hajiyev wrote on his official Twitter account.

Under his tweet, the presidential aide shared a link containing detailed information about the atrocities in Kalbajar's Bashlibel village in April 1993. (https://www.kalbajar.com/020-eng)

Kalbajar was among seven Azerbaijani regions that got occupied by the Armenian armed forces during the first Karabakh war. Azerbaijan regained control over the region as a result of a peace deal signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan to end the 44-day war in November 2020.

As a result of Armenia's occupation of Kalbajar, 511 people were killed and 321 people were captured and went missing. Armenian occupiers destroyed more than 500 industrial, construction, catering, and retail facilities, 97 schools, and 76 health facilities. Kalbajar region’s 53,340 residents became IDPs.