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Khojaly: The Moment of Truth [March 5, 2007] We are pleased to publish excerpts from Tatul Hakobyan's upcoming book, with the working title Artsakh Diary , which deals with the tragedies of February 25-26, 1992 in Khojaly and of March 10, 1992 in Maragha, Nagorno Karabakh. “ The first casualty when war comes is truth.” These words said of World War I can be applied to Khojaly and Maragha as well. As military operations between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan continued, several countries and organizations offered their mediation in settling the conflict, and in working out a truce first of all. Iran was especially active. The OSCE and Russia began showing a serious interest as well. On February 25, 1992 Yerevan launched a political initiative. President Levon Ter-Petrossian appealed to the heads of 14 states asking to prevent further escalation of the situation which would only lead to a full-scale war. “The heads of states and international organizations should restrain Azerbaijan by consistently condemning the militarization of that country and any actions that might upset the relative balance of powers in the region… as well as influence the leaders of Russia and the CIS to hinder Azerbaijan by all means from obtaining and using CIS armaments.” The Armenian leader stressed that “we view the Nagorno Karabakh issue as an internal political conflict which should be solved exclusively through negotiations between the Azerbaijani government and the newly-elected leadership of Nagorno Karabakh, bearing in mind that Armenia has no territorial claims on Azerbaijan.” Ter-Petrossian urged the CIS, the OSCE, the UN, the European Union, and other organizations interested in establishing stable peace in the region to expedite the steps aimed at creating an efficient mediation mechanism for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that would result in designing a comprehensive peace plan supported by all the interested parties. The Armenian leader emphasized that “Turkey should continue to maintain its neutrality and try to alter Azerbaijan's discrepant stance toward Armenia by using its good offices with the Azerbaijani government and political forces.” In exchange “Armenia will use its influence on Nagorno Karabakh to persuade its leadership into unilaterally ceasing military operations for 24 hours effective the moment the Azerbaijani government assumes the obligation to halt military operations in the region for the same period of time.” Armenian special envoy at the time David Shahnazaryan says that at first the West, and the United States in particular, didn't show serious interest in mediation. “Their policy at the time differed substantially from their present policy. They were not ready or even didn't want to assume any independent or active role. Their mission limited itself to the activity within the Minsk Group. At the time Russia was more active than the OSCE format in two ways – through the ministry of defense and the ministry of foreign affairs,” Shahnazaryan says. However, the high-level Armenian-Azerbaijani meetings and numerous intermediary missions and visits were unable to prevent bloodshed between the two neighbouring peoples. Moreover, strange as it may sound, the most tragic events would usually take place at times of active international mediation. One such instance was Khojaly; another was Maragha. “The moment of truth” "The first casualty when war comes is truth." These words uttered by a US senator following World War I might be also applied to the Karabakh war and, in particular, to Khojaly. What really happened in the second-largest Azerbaijani settlement in Nagorno Karabakh, Khojaly, and the adjacent territories on February 25-26, 1992 when the civilian population fled to Aghdam through the corridor provided by the Karabakh forces remains one of the most debatable and unclarified issues of the Karabakh war. At least two things are clear – the Karabakh forces left a corridor, and the civilian population suffered and a tragedy occurred. When in 1994 Russian journalist Andrey Karaulov, the host of the TV program The Momemt of Truth asked then-Chairman of the State Defence Committee of Nagorno Karabakh Robert Kocharyan about the Khojaly tragedy, he responded, “I would put next to this tragedy a series of other tragedies that would perhaps surpass the Khojaly tragedy in scale. These are the Sumgait and the Baku massacres, the depopulation of 28 Armenian villages, and the tragedy of the village of Maragha.” “But, apparently, Khojaly requires a separate explanation. That is to say, this was the village that found itself in the thick of military operations. As I see it, the warring parties should be very careful in using human settlements for military purposes and this is exactly what had happened in Khojaly. There were four GRAD flamethrowers stationed inside the village which were systematically firing upon Stepanakert. And when a place turns into a position for firing GRAD missiles then, naturally, it draws enemy fire. For that reason a situation emerged in Khojaly where heavy battles for the settlement took place and, the fact was, during these battles the civilian population suffered,” Kocharyan said. When British journalist Thomas de Vaal asked Serge Sargsyan to tell him about the seizure of Khojaly the Armenian minister of defense responded, “We prefer not to talk about that out loud.” As for the number of losses, Sargsyan insisted that many things had been exaggerated and the retreating Azerbaijanis had manifested strong military resistance. “But I think that the principal issue was completely different. Before Khojaly, Azerbaijanis thought that they could trifle with us; they thought Armenians were incapable of raising a hand against a civilian population. We were able to break this stereotype. This is what happened. And also we must take into consideration that among these men there were those who had escaped from the Baku and the Sumgait massacres,” Sargsyan said. In order to lend credence to assertions that the Karabakh forces had opened frontal fire on the fleeing civilian population and the Azerbaijani special platoon accompanying them from the Armenian village of Nakhichevanik, Thomas de Vaal quoted what Police Major Valery Babayan had told American reporter Paul Quin-Judge. Babayan had expressed the view that the main motive for these events was personal vengeance and that many of the participants of the attack on Khojaly “were from Sumgait and other places like that.” Samvel Babayan, who was at the center of the events, has a completely different interpretation. “During the Khojaly operation I was in charge of holding the Aghdam front and providing for a secure corridor along the river current so that the civilians could exit, and I accomplished that mission. The corridor was provided, but a strange thing happened. We were attacked from the direction of Aghdam. The population was supposed to pass through our positions and enter Aghdam. Among the Azerbaijani forces in Aghdam, the impression emerged that the Armenians were making a sally. The violence was committed by the Azerbaijani forces, whether wittingly or not, I don't know. We did not attempt at the destruction of the population. Generally, during the war we had always allowed the civilian population to leave. We were in a position to block the roads and annihilate 60,000 people in Kelbajar, but we purposefully postponed military operations and provided free passage. It was the same road that we had taken under our control in one stroke in 1994.” To be continued… Tatul Hakobyan hetq.am

What is killing 100+ or so worthless "Azeri" nomads in the warzone to all they did to us since they set hoof in the region? Why don't you even speak of the unpunished acts of genocide in Sumgait, Baku, Gandzat, Shamkhor, Shushi, Maragha, Shahoomian, Getashen, etc. in the period of 1988-1992 before they unleashed an all-out war on us, all in response to peaceful and civilized demonstrations? But the thing is it was not the Armenians who did it, it was the Turks and they admit it. About 100 or so "Azeris" were killed by National Front of Azerbaijani thugs to topple Mutalibov. Then, about 35 innocent Armenian prisoners of war were buthchered and added to the pile of "Azeri" garbage to fake a "genocide". Then they found out that the Armenians would be recognized, therefore, the genocidal savages did what they're best at: corpse porn. They carved the bodies and the changes were noticed by people who had seen the bodies earlier. Armenians didn't have access to where the killings took place then, and the "Azeris" were informed of the attack on Khojaly from where they were bombing the Armenians. Below I paste the article I have already posted many a time in different forums, where many "Azeri" sources confirm it was the "Azeris" who did it. Facts come from this page. The Greatest Intergalactic Tragedy in the History of the Universe the Khojaly Incident All independent sources including "Azeri" reporters, survivors, even their president Mutalibov, have confirmed this. "According to M. Safaroghli, an Azerbaijani journalist, "Khojalu was located in an important strategic position. Losing control over Khojalu would mean a political fiasco for Moutalibov". The population of NKR which was in the danger of the total physical extinction by Azerbaijan could survive only by neutralizing the weapon emplacements of Khojalu and de-blocking the airport. Hundreds of peaceful people were killed in Stepanakert as the result of the daily bombing from the adjacent Khojalu. The military operation of the armed forced of NKR on the neutralization of the weapon emplacements of Khojalu was not a surprise for Azerbaijan. For the first time the Azeri side was notified about the forthcoming attack by TV nearly two months prior to the operation. Arif Yunusov, a well-known champion of human rights in Azerbiajan wrote about that in "Izvestia". The officials in Baku did not try to hide their awareness, including Ayaz Moutalibov, the president of Azerbaijan. He emphasized that "… the offense on Khojalu was not a surprise".("Ogoniok" Magazine, N 14-15, 1992) As the result of these warnings the majority of the peaceful people of Khojalu moved to safe zones. The detachments of NKR did everything possible in order to exclude the death of the peaceful population of the settlement and left a corridor for the safe evacuation of the peaceful population from the zone of military actions. The Azeri side was timely informed about the opened corridor which allowed to evacuate the people of Khojalu. Elman Mamedov, the mayor of Khojalu: "We knew that the corridor was left for the exit of the peaceful people" ("Russkaya Misl" 03.03.1992, citation from "Bakinskie Rabochiy" newspaper). The Azeri side is categorically silent about the place of the death of hundreds of residents of the village. The truth is that all of them were coolly assassinated at the distance of 11 km from Khojalu, about 2-3 km far from Aghdam which at that time used to be the regional military base of the Azeri armed forces. This mere fact is enough for casting light on the intricate story about the massive extinction of the residents of Khojalu. It is hard to understand why should the Armenians let the population of Khojalu flee from the besieged village in order to kill them on the approaches of Aghdam putting their lives at risk (at that time Aghdam was under the control of the Azeris). In his interview to "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" Moutalibov stated that "however, the Armenians had left a corridor for the escape of the people. Why a fire should have opened then? (cf.: "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", April 2, 1992) He linked the fact of the criminal fusillade of the peaceful people with the attempts of the opposition to remove him from power, laying the responsibility for the tragedy entirely on him. In his interview to "Novoye Vremia" ("New Time") Magazine Moutalibov confirmed his statement which was made nine days before: "It was evident that the some people had organized the shooting for shifting the power in Azerbaijan" (cf.: "Novoye Vremia" , March 6, 2001) . Similar statements and assessments of the Khojalu events were made by several other Azerbaijani top official and journalists. R. Gajiyev, member of the Operating Committee of Aghdam Branch of NFA (National Front of Azerbaijan): We could have helped the people of Khojalu because we had the resources and means. However, the authorities of the republic wanted to demonstarte to the people of Azerbaijan that they are not able to do so and ask for the assistance of the CIS Army and with the help of the latter also neutralize the opposition" (Moscow, "Izvestia", April, 1992). The Azeri journalist Arif Yunosov's view is slightly different from the statements given above. According to Yunusov, "The town itself and its population are willingfully sacrificed for the political purposes, i.e., prevent the National Front of Azerbaijan from coming to power" (cf.: "Zerkalo" ("Mirror") Newspaper, July, 1992.) Again, it follows that the Azeris themselves are the perpetrators of the tragedy. The Khojalu events are the result of the treachery of the high-level Azeri authorities towards the people of Khojalu whereas the Azeri propaganda blew up the story about the "brutalities of the Armenians", and the dreadful pictures of the site covered with defiled bodies were demonstrated by TV. It was propagated that Khojalu was the retaliation of the Armenians for Sumgayit. Tamerlan Karayev, the former Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan testifies: "The tragedy was perpetrated by the Azeri authorities", in particular, "some of the top officials" (cf.: "Moukhtalifat" Newspaper, April 28, 1992). Yana Mazalova, a Czech journalist, who, because of the oversight of the Azeris, was included in both of the groups of journalists who visited the place of the events on the first day and several days later, noticed the stunning difference how the bodies looked at the first and second site visits. before and after between the previous and latest outer look of the bodies. When Mazalova visited the site immediately after the events she saw that the bodies did not bear any traces of brutality whereas a couple of days later the bodies "adulterated" by the Armenians and "ready" for the cameras were demonstrated to the journalists." "Who killed the peaceful people of Khojalu and later defiled their bodies, if the tragedy took place not in the village liberated by the Armenians, and not along the direction of the humanitarian corridor, but on the close approaches of Aghdam town, a territory which was entirely under the control of the National Front of Azerbaijan? Chingiz Moustafayev (Fuat-oghli), an independent Azeri TV journalist and cameraman who filmed the aftereffect on February 28 and March 2, 1992, doubted the official version of Azerbaijan and initiated his own investigation. His life was the price for his very first report to the Moscow News Agency "DR-Press" about the possible involvement of the Azeri side in the crime: he was killed not far from Aghdam, and the details of the murder still remain unrevealed. Moustafayev reported about the flight to Khojalu. He noted that he could not film the dead bodies there, because "there was not a single killed person there …". In the course of the first flight the journalists shot only a couple of dozens of bodies of the Azeri soldiers which were found not far from the village of Nakhichevanik. However, most of the bodies were near Aghdam where they were video-filmed on February 29 and later on March 2. These tapes were displayed at the session of Milli Medjlis and, later, numerous TV channels of the world as an evidence of the massive manslaughter of the Azeri population of Khojalu. The first flight of the helicopter with the Azeri journalists on board took place on February 29, 1992. It is noteworthy that the journalists who were informed about the massive offense of the Azeris in Khojalu flew directly to the place of the events. However, they did not find any evidence of the happenings and flew back. During the second flight to the region of the massive slaughter, on March 2, 1992, the journalists noticed that the positions of the dead bodies lying on the ground and the level of the injuries and physical impairment was astonishingly different as compared to the first inspection. Chingiz Moustafayev (Fuat-oghli) informed the Azeri president A. Moutalibov about the changed positions of the bodies and their physical impairment. Undoubtedly, by that time the Azeri president understood the reasons which caused the falsification of the tragedy. Moutalibov gave a really prophetic answer to the journalist, "Chingiz, don't tell anyone that you think something is wrong because they'll kill you". Chingiz Moutafayev was killed in the same field where he had shot the main Azeri "argument". The president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev personally admitted that the "former leadership of Azerbaijan was also at fault of the Khojalu events". As early as in April of 1992 the following was articulated by him, "The bloodshed will do good to us. We shouldn't interfere in the course of events" (cf.: Bilik-Duniasi News Agency). It is out of question who gained from the "bloodshed". Megapolis-Express wrote: "It is impossible not to admit that if the National Front of Azerbaijan in fact had defined far-reaching goals, it succeeded in addressing them. Moutalibov is compromised and forced out of his post, the international community is in shock, the Azeris and their brotherly Turks believed in the so-called "genocide of the Azerbaijani people in Khojalu" ("Megapolis-Express", N17, 1992). The Azeri mass media was silent in its comments on the Khojalu events about another tragic detail which was revealed later: 47 Armenians were held hostage in the "peaceful" Khojalu since February 26. After the liberation of Khojalu only 13 of these hostages were found in the settlement (including 6 women and 1 child), the remaining 34 were taken away by the Azeris in the unknown direction. All that is known about these hostages is that at the night of the operation they were driven away from the place of imprisonment, but not from the settlement. There is no information about their further status as hostages. It is obvious that the bodies of the Armenian hostages were tormented beyond the degree when they could be identified. This was done in order to create the illusion that the bodies of the victims "had been defiled" by the Armenians. This is the reason why the bodies of the wretched victims were outraged to the extent that it was impossible to identify the victims. As a matter of fact, around 700 inhabitants of Khojalu, including Turks - Meskhets who for whatever reasons failed to use the free corridor for retreat were passed to the Azerbaijani side without any conditions. After the thorough investigation the fact of the unconditional return of the residents of Khojalu to Azerbaijan was confirmed in the conclusion of the Human Rights Watch Center "Memorial" (Moscow), as well as in the documentary film of Svetlana Kulchitskaya, a journalist from St. Petersburg." http://www.armeniangenocide.com/photos/data/500/medium/Destruction-jugha-azeri-beasts-det.jpg Genocide in Broad Daylight Nakhijevan, December 2005 not 1905 or 1915. Destruction of the ancient Jugha cemetery by "Azeri" beasts The murderer gets rid of the evidence of the existence of the victim.

search for mutalibovs statement on khojalu "article written by the Azerbaijani press. February 26 marks the tenth anniversary of a tragedy that occurred in Khojalu village in the Askeran region of Nagorno Karabagh. It doubtless was a tragedy as it took the lives of 600 people. The 1992 February was the highlight of the war in Karabagh, when Azeri armed units occupied almost half of Karabagh’s territory and its capital Stepanakert was being bombarded day and night from nearby located Khojalu and Aghdam. Karabagh was actually strangled. Back in 1992 Heydar Aliyev, who was then chairman of Nakhichevan parliament, blamed the Khojalu tragedy on the then president of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov. Aliyev was quoted by Azeri news agency Bilik Dunyasi as saying that “the bloodshed would be in our favor and we must not interfere.” Regretfully the Khojalu tragedy has been exploited in Azerbaijan for inner-political goals, when the tragedy of innocent people is being exploited for the sake of political intrigues. Who killed the residents of Khojalu?. Let us put aside all suppositions, let us apply to chronicles. An Azeri cameramen Chingiz Mustafaev, who was shooting a documentary in Aghdam and nearby territories, controlled then by Azerbaijani People’s Front, has questioned the official Azerbaijani theory that it was committed by Armenians and began a journalistic investigation. His first contribution to the Moscow-based D-Press news agency about possible involvement of Azeri troops in it cost him dearly. Shortly after it he was killed in Aghdam region under obscure circumstances. Another evidence came from former chairman of Azeri parliament Karayev who said that the tragedy was plotted and implemented by a top Azeri official. In a recent interview with the Moscow-based Nezavisimaya Gazeta Azerbaijan’s ex-president Ayaz Mutalibov insists that if the People’s Front had not hindered signing of an agreement that was to place the Azeri army under the command of the CIS chief military headquarters, the Khojalu tragedy would not have happened. The interview was entitled “Late Confession.” Mutalibov in other cases insisted that Armenians provided Azeris with a humanitarian corridor to leave Khojalu, but the armed forces of the People’s Front fired at innocent residents near the border of Aghdam. About 600 women, children and old men fell victim to the slaughter, committed by the People’s Front of Azerbaijan. They also murdered brutally 34 Armenians in Khojalu. © Copyright AZG " then remember azeri soldiers war using civilians as a human shilled 3 or 4 video documentaries do exists of the fights and haw azeris war killing of their own people + haw one of their generals or commander was disciplining / slapping their "fighters" who was retrieving back from khojalu or the front lines and again - most of the images from Azeris side are staged a topic in staging was just posted on this forum not to long ago - sorry don;t have the time to search and post the link. on the web you will find a video or the photo of 3 or 4 individuals one of them has a blue clothing on it - 1 day before pictures was taken by an international observer this individuals was dead an no mutilations on then - then the next day - the same people have totally different look the body's are mutilated search the forum - this has been discussed many times wan you visit what ustobe khojalu pay attention to houses and barns or any structure - your going to find obvious signs that azeris was bombarding the village heavily and even more then ARmenians - the side of the structures that was facing the azeris side has severe damage on it - most of the structures that has collapsed artillery shells are by azeris bombardment

hmmmmmmm well in fact the body count was somewhere in between 200 and 400 the azeris claim it to be 2000 and the so called azeri genocide. now that it just propsttrous but...you cant blaim them for being stupid. second. i also find it hard to believe that azeris shot anyone, but it was a litlle crazy, they gavce a corridor and those who were fleeing the city, the azeris couldnt accept defeat and considered those fleeing deserters and shot. amongst the civilians were azeri nation liberation front soldiers. but that doesnt make armenians totally inncoent. we have to accept it, we have to be better then the turks, armenians have done wrong... but the rage used to perpetrate such horrible actions was bottled up inside armenians since sumgait, baku, and many many more massacres by azeris to armenians... it is a sad event in armenians history but we must live up to it