Azernews.Az

By Sabina Mammadli

Presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev has urged Armenia to apologize to Azerbaijan for the genocide committed in Khojaly town in Karabakh in 1992.

He made the remarks at a conference commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

Hajiyev stressed that the city of Khojaly was occupied as a result of a military operation and the genocide was committed there.

"Armenia must be held legally responsible for the murder of people in Khojaly and other massacres. The Armenian society must apologize for this black page in its history," Hajiyev added.

He described it as a tragedy for the entire international community.

Speaking at the same event, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that the only reason for the murder of Khojaly residents was their ethnicity and this clearly demonstrated Armenia's racist policy.

Bayramov stated that a thorough investigation of the Khojaly tragedy by Azerbaijan's law enforcement agencies proved it was genocide.

"To date, the national legislatures of 17 countries and 23 US states have strongly condemned the genocide and adopted appropriate decisions and resolutions. Unfortunately, despite this, the perpetrators of this crime have yet to be brought to justice," Bayramov said.

He stated that 37 people have been killed and over 200 people have been injured as a result of mine explosions since November 2020.

Furthermore, the fate of the 3,890 Azerbaijanis who went missing during the first Karabakh war remains unknown. Following the second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan set an example for Armenia by returning back to Yerevan the remains of 1,711 Armenian servicemen discovered on the liberated territories. Azerbaijan discovered several mass graves on the liberated lands after gaining control of them, the minister said.

"Mass graves have been discovered in Kalbajar district's Bashlybel village, the vicinity of Shusha, and Khojavand's Edilli village," Bayramov added.

Meanwhile, the minister added that the 44-day Patriotic War, as well as the tripartite declarations signed by Baku, Moscow, and Yerevan, opened up new regional opportunities, Bayramov said.

"Despite the severity of the past, Azerbaijan is working to improve relations with Armenia. However, the crimes committed during the 30-year occupation have not stopped, and we are still dealing with the painful consequences," he continued.

The minister recalled that Armenia had not transferred mine-field maps to Azerbaijan for a long time, only doing so in December 2021, a year after the Second Karabakh War, under international pressure and the threat of an international tribunal.

Armenia committed genocide against the 7,000-person population of Azerbaijan's Khojaly town on February 26, 1992.

As a result of the Khojaly genocide, 613 peaceful Azerbaijanis were killed, including 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elderly people. Simultaneously, 487 civilians were seriously injured, and 1,275 people were kidnapped. The fate of 150 hostages remains unknown, including 68 women and 26 children.

During the genocide, 56 people were killed with extreme cruelty, with their heads peeled off, various limbs severed, eyes removed, and pregnant women's bellies pierced with bayonets. As a result, eight families were utterly destroyed, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children were orphaned.

Relevant documents adopted by the parliaments of Mexico, Pakistan, the Czech Republic, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Sudan, Guatemala and Djibouti recognized the Khojaly massacre as an act of genocide. The parliaments of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Jordan, Slovenia, Scotland, and Paraguay, as well as the executive and legislative bodies of 22 U.S. states, have strongly condemned the Khojaly tragedy as a massacre. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation recognized Armenia as an aggressor and the Khojaly tragedy as genocide.