The Khojaly Genocide:
A Shameful Spot in the History of Mankind
The Khojali Genocide, with its brutality and inhumanity was the result of the Armenian policy of creating a “Great Armenia” from sea to sea.
Following this policy, throughout history Armenian chauvinists have committed several bloody crimes, acts of terror, and genocidal actions against the Azerbaijani people.
With the decline of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, they got an opportunity to implement their historical dream. Moreover, beginning in 1988 Armenians intending to create a mono-ethnic state forced Azerbaijanis living in Armenia to flee their historical territories. Also violating the international norms of territorial integrity, the Armenian government aimed to annex Nagorno Karabakh, a historically Azerbaijani region, with Russian military, socio-economic and political support.
These events led to the killing of thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis, as well as the removal of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their historical homelands. Hundreds of settlements, thousands of public-cultural buildings, educational and medical establishments, historical-cultural monuments, mosques, saint worships, and cemeteries were destroyed and became the subjects of unprecedented Armenian vandalism. Thousands of our fellow-citizens died or were injured during the Armenian occupation, with their armed forces occupying 20 percent of our territory. One of the most repulsive crimes against the Azerbaijani people was the brutal annihilation of hundreds of innocent inhabitants of the town of Khojali by Armenian fascists on the night of 25/26 February 1992.
On that night the Armenian armed forces, under the command of Major Oganyan Seyran Mushegovich and Yevgeniy Nabokhin, with the help of the 366th motorized infantry brigade of the Russian Interior Ministry, stationed in the capital city of Nagorno Karabakh, Khankandi, occupied the small town of Khojali. Following the occupation of Khojali, 613 innocent Azerbaijanis, including 106 women and 83 children, were massacred by Armenian and Russian forces. Twenty-five children were orphaned and 130 lost one parent. Eight families were totally exterminated. Four-hundred and seventy-six people were permanently disabled. A total of 1275 people were taken hostage, and even though afterwards most of the hostages were released, the fates of 150 of them are still unknown. The event sparked the exodus of Azerbaijanis from their historic lands. [1]
The Khojali massacre, which has entered our history as the Khojali Genocide, with its brutality was totally ethnic cleansing against the innocent people of Azerbaijan. This bloody tragedy represents terrorist and barbaric behavior in the history of mankind and crimes against humanity. The results of the massacre were difficult to tabulate; Armenians perpetrated an unheard-of punitive crime against the population of the town of Khojali. According to the results of medical examinations, 56 of the victims were killed with unusual cruelty. They scalped, cut off people's heads and other organs, extracted the eyes of children, and chopped the stomachs of pregnant women. Some people were burned alive. [2]
A Russian human rights group reported that "scores of the corpses bore traces of profanation. Doctors on a hospital train in Aghdam noted that no fewer than four corpses had been scalped and one had been beheaded.... and one case of live scalping." Human Rights Watch called the tragedy at the time "the largest massacre to date in the conflict." The New York Times wrote about "truckloads of bodies" and described acts of "scalping." Pascal Privet and Steve Le Vine of “Newsweek” in the article “The face of massacre” reported: “Azerbaijan was charnel house again last week: a place of mourning refuges and dozens of mangled corpses dragged to a makeshift morgue behind the mosque. They were ordinary Azerbaijani men, women and children of Khojali, a small village in war–torn Nagorno-Karabakh overrun by Armenian forces on 25-26 February. Many were killed at close range while trying to flee; some had their faces mutilated, others were scalped” [3]
On 3 March 1992 the New York Times reported: “fresh evidence emerged today of a massacre of civilians by Armenian militants in Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani officials and journalists who flew briefly to the region by helicopter brought back three dead children with the backs of their heads blown off. They said shooting by Armenians had prevented them from retrieving more bodies. Dozens of bodies scattered over the area lent credence to Azerbaijani reports of a massacre. New York Times also motioned that, “Near Agdam on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh, a Reuter’s photographer, Frederique Lengaigne, said she had seen two trucks filled with Azerbaijani bodies. "In the first one I counted 35, and it looked as though there were almost as many in the second," she said. "Some had their heads cut off, and many had been burned". [4]
Another freelance journalist Clare Doyle reported: “Advancing Karabakh Armenian troops were able to overwhelm Azerbaijani forces defending Khojali. In a chaotic retreat, Azerbaijani troops found themselves intermingled with hundreds of civilian refugees as they all fled to the nearby town of Agdam. Armenian forces fired on this group as they crossed open ground. Estimates vary widely, but it is clear that at least 200 and possibly more than 600 people were killed, among them many women and children”. [5]
In his book “Revival of our souls”, the Armenian author Zori Balayan justified the Khojali Genocide and proudly confessed Armenians’ Genocide against Azerbaijanis in Khojali in 1992 February. He said in his book that, “When I and Khachtur entered the house, our soldiers had nailed a 13-year-old Turkish child to the window. He was making much noise so Khachatur put mother’s cut breast into his mouth. Then I did what their fathers had done to our children. I skinned his chest and belly. Seven minutes later the child died. As I used to be a doctor I was humanist and didn’t consider myself happy for what I had done to a 13-year-old Turkish child. But my soul was proud for taking 1 percent of vengeance of my nation. Then Khachatur cut the body into pieces and threw it to a dog of same origin with Turks. I did the same to three Turkish children in the evening. I did my duty as an Armenian patriot. Khachatur had sweated much. But I saw struggle of revenge and great humanism in his and other soldiers’ eyes. The next day we went to the church to clear our souls from what done previous day. But we were able to clear Khojali from slops of 30 thousand people”. [6]
Another Armenian author David Davidian, while condemning Azerbaijani soldiers with Khojali events, wrote that, “On 26 February 1992 Armenian forces succeed in capturing the second largest Azerbaijani-populated center in Nagorno Karabakh, Khojali, in the Askeran region, which had also doubled as a potent launching point for GRAD missile attacks upon surrounding Armenian regions. Close to 300 Azerbaijanis and Meshketian settlers brought to buttress the Azerbaijani presence are killed while fleeing with Azerbaijani soldiers in retreat. Just after the Armenians and the CIS's 366th Motor Rifle Regiment captured and neutralized shelling position in Khojali, during a civilian evacuation process fighting erupted between Armenian and CIS soldiers guarding this evacuation and Azerbaijani soldiers mixed in with these evacuating civilians. The result was the deaths of hundreds of evacuating Azerbaijani civilians and soldiers.” [7] This information proves the direct Russian support of Armenia in the Nagorno Karabakh war and the involvement of Russian military base 366’s motorized infantry brigades for the fulfillment of the Khojali Genocide.
On February 17th 2002, Dan Barton, a member of the US Congress, described the Khojali Genocide in his speech in the House of Representative as following: - "this savage cruelty against innocent woman, children and elderly is unfathomable in and of itself but the senseless brutality did not stop with Khojali. It was simply the first. In fact, the level of brutality and the unprecedented atrocities committed in Khojali set a pattern of destruction and ethnic cleansing those Armenian troops would adhere to for the remainder of the war".[8] All these facts prove that Armenia committed genocide against civilians, violating Geneva Convention protocol concerning war rules. During the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan all acts defining the crime of genocide under this Convention were committed.
According to international law, genocide is defined as an act committed against peace and humanity and considered to be the gravest international crime. The UN General Assembly Resolution 96 (I) of 11 December 1946 reads that genocide, through rejecting the groups’ right to life, degrades human dignity, deprives the mankind of the material and spiritual values created by human beings. Such odious acts are completely contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by Resolution 260(III) of the UN General Assembly of 9 December 1948 and which entered into force in 1951, provides a legal framework for the crime of genocide. The states that signed this Convention confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under the international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
The fact that the violence during the Khojali Genocide was well organized and planned in advance and aimed at total or partial destruction of people on the grounds of their ethnic origin confirms that these acts constitute the crime of genocide under international law. This act of vandalism and brutality committed by Armenian aggressors should be considered not only as 31th March Genocide of Azerbaijan or Black January, but on the same level as the Jewish Genocide by Nazi Germany during the Second World War and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The author of this historical crime targeted not only Azerbaijanis, but also the whole civilized world and mankind. It was the birth of a new form of fascism and has to be punished by the international community. But unfortunately, the Khojali genocide, though characterized by gross violations of human rights, has not yet received legal recognition at the international level. No concrete measures have been taken against the terrorist and aggressive acts. The international community must acknowledge the Khojali Genocide.It is time to make decisions compliant with the universal values and international legal norms.
Each year on February 26 Azerbaijan commemorates the inhuman action, which is known as the Khojali Genocide committed by joint Armenian and Russian armies. Former President of the Azerbaijan Republic Haydar Aliyev issued a special decree regarding the Khojali genocide on March 1, 1994. According to an appropriate decree of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the 26th day of February was declared as a day of national mourning in memory of the innocent Azerbaijanis who were killed in inhuman ways during the Khojali massacre.
1. Elkhan Nuriyev, “Khojali Genocide Forever Remember”, Today’s Zaman. 27.02.2008
2. Elman Mammadov, Autumn 1999 (7.3), “Massacre and Flight From Khojali”, Journal of Azerbaijan International, USA, Autumn1999 (7.3), p54-56http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/73_folder/73_articles/73_khojali.html
3. This information was taken from the Press Release of the Special Mission of Azerbaijan Republic to the United Nation, “Khojali Genocide-16th Anniversary”, 26.02.2008http://www.un.int/azerbaijan/62%20Session/Press%20Release%202008/Khodjali.pdf
4. New York Times, “Massacre by Armenians Being Reported”, 03.03.1992 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE0DE1739F930A35750C0A964958260&scp=1&sq=khojaly%20genocide&st=cse
5. Clare Doyle, “Genocide Debate Complicates Search for Karabakh Peace”, 06.03.2002http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030602a.shtml
6. Zori Balayan, “Revival of our souls”, 1996, p 260-262. This text was taken from the website of “Armenian Genocide Research Center” referring to book given above. http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/02/1402-media-scanner-6-feb-2007.html
7. David Davidian, “Armenian Capture of Khojali, February 1992”,http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/june_july/history002.html
8. Dan Burton, “Remembering Khojali, Finally Documented in U.S. Congressional Record”, Journal of Azerbaijan International, USA, Spring 2005 (13.1), p 16-17.http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai131_folder/131_articles/131_khojali_congress.html
9. Interview with the Dr. Rovshan Ibrahimov, Head of International Relation Department at the Qafqaz University. 22.02.2009
10. Interview with the Former State Advise on the Foreign Affairs of the President of Azerbaijan Republic Professor Vafa Quluzadeh. 02.26.2009
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