Khojaly: The Moment of Truth

[Yervant1]

[Yervant1]

SUMGAIT TRAGEDY WAS STATE-ORGANIZED GENOCIDE: ASHOT MELKONYAN

18:16, 26 February, 2016

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Many years have passed since Sumgait
pogrom but the international community has not completely perceived
the truth, therefore Armenian side's fight, related to propaganda of
the mentioned issue, needs to be continued, Director of the History
Institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences Ashot Melkonyan
expressed such opinion during the presentation of Bakur Karapetyan's
"The Sumgait Diary" book, "Armenpress" reports.

"There are forces today, which believe Azerbaijani falsification
on Khojaly events and forget the anti-Armenian policy and massacres
against Armenians organized by Azerbaijani and their ancestors Caucasus
Tatars not in the recent past," Ashot Melkonyan said.

According to the historian, it is regrettable that the world often
forgets about massacres and destructions against Armenians in Baku,
1905, destructions and massacres against local Armenians in Shusha,
1920 and mass murder of 30.000 Armenians in Baku, 1918.

Ashot Melkonyan emphasized that Sumgait tragedy was a state-organized
genocidal act. "Sumgait pogrom was a new genocide and it fully complies
with the criteria set out in the UN Convention on Genocide, as the
massacres against Armenians, regardless of the number of victims,
was made on the basis of their nationality," he said.

The historian, drawing parallels between 1988 Sumgait massacres and
1905 February's Baku massacres of Armenians during the Armenian-Tatar
conflict, said that in both cases there were the same provocations. As
it happened in 1905, Azerbaijani authorities also pre-organized
everything in the February of 1988, prepared the murderers and
the latters killed Armenians under the instigation of Azerbaijani
authorities.

Author of the book Bakur Karapetyan stressed in his speech that the
tragedy was organized by the Kremlin. Mikhail Gorbachev was aware of
organized massacres and deliberately took no steps to prevent it.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__armenpress.am_eng_news_837519_sumgait-2Dtragedy-2Dwas-2Dstate-2Dorganized-2Dgenocide-2Dashot-2Dmelkonyan.html&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=Wp7A57U86aY3A_yBnjEj1DDhUnJYMSWSkrmC39oY4fc&s=VMCVVlHjsVIQVGzWk6tpdLl2Fk3Doz4hLgoMK70Sihk&e=

[Yervant1]

PROPAGANDA FAIL: AZERBAIJAN ACCIDENTALLY PUBLISHES CONFESSION OF AGHDAM EVENTS' "EYEWITNESS": "I HAD ASSAULT RIFLE"

Politics 16:44 26/02/2016

"Evidence" of the survivors of 1992 Aghdam events circulated by
the Azerbaijani propaganda machine and presented in the Azerbaijani
propagandistic publication "The Khojaly Genocide" in 2006 started
to work against it demonstrating the process of falsification of
archival documents.

The point is that the entire "proving base" of the Azerbaijani side
is collected in this book without any scrutiny, onlybased on foreign
publications and "eyewitness accounts." For example, on pages 475 and
477, the testimony of the same person, SuleymanovYusifHasanalioglu,
born in 1949, is published, which he gave within a few days - in
October and November of 1992.

In the interrogation of October, he claims that his wife died from
the cold, and that his two sons reached Aghdam alive, adding that
"none of my relatives lived in Khojaly."

He gives a different testimony in a month. Repeating the information
about the dead wife and survived sons,Suleymanov changed the testimony
regarding the other facts: "Most of my relatives have disappeared. I
do not know if they are alive or dead or were captured as hostages."

Suleymanov was born in village Farah of Lachin district, the NKR.

During the war, he worked atKhojaly department of internal affairs,
which was especially distinguished by its atrocities against the
Armenian population. It is significant that Suleymanov himself
confesses that he was armed with an assault rifleand threw it away
because the cartridges ended.

On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.

Population of the village of Khojaly, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others)
was kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by
the authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as
human shields later.

Residents of Khojaly coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defence forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.

Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.panorama.am_en_news_2016_02_26_Propaganda-2Dfail_1535582&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=tzxb9CHJDjp2raOi_lrGZT4d1eyoPG_eQ1wOdlVYabA&s=FSvwdAaD_CNhp5dxoy_oyeum96fGVbnuOwb3Xt5chec&e=

[Yervant1]

Lack of facts makes Azerbaijani propaganda machine again circulate
Zori Balayan's nonexistent quotes

Politics 14:19 27/02/2016
Region


The Azerbaijani propaganda machine again started to circulate the
falsifications of1992 Aghdam events, which wereexposed long ago. It
again propagates the `confessions' ascribed to the Armenians and made
by a nonexistent author `DavudHeyriyan'
and ZoriBalayan in a nonexistent book.

In an article about the `mourning rituals' dedicated to the Aghdam
events, Haqqin.az references the following topicto intensifyits
argumentation: `Even the Armenians left evidence of the atrocities
committed by themselves. This is what one of the participants of the
events, DavudHeyriyan, writes.' Further, the quotes of the nonexistent
author of the nonexistent book follow.

Axar.az, another Azerbaijani website,also publishes only quotes which
`describe the atrocities' in its article `ZoriBalayan'sterrible
confessions about Khojaly.'

Vzglyad.az also recalls the `confessions of the bloodiest barbarians
which tear your soul and freeze your blood,' copying the quotes of the
aforementioned work word by word.

Moderator.az published the article of the vice-president of the
international fund `Gashgari', writer, publicist, and police mayor
JalaleddinHasimov, whoalso refers to ZoriBalayan, to his `book', and
to the quotes with `confessions.' By the way, the former, who exploits
the Khojaly theme and tells about the `conspiracy' ofZoriBalayan and
other Armenian figures withthe commander of the 366thregiment,does not
even know his real name calling him `Zurgugarov.'

Excerpts from these nonexistent books are constantly cited by the
Azerbaijani media as `Armenians'confession of their own deeds.'
However, the Azerbaijani side could not present either the original
book or its full content during the 20 years of the exploitation of
this thesis. At the same time, ZoriBalayanspoke about his alleged book
in an interview with Azerbaijani Day.az 10 years ago, in 2006: `Scorn
wins over slander.' DavudHeyriyan does not have any opinion about this
due to his nonexistence.
In its turn, in 2012, public organization `Xenophobia Prevention
Initiative' officially announced its intention to buy the
above-mentioned books ``Resurrection of Our Soul' and `In the Name of
the Cross' ` and expressed its willingness to pay $15 000 for each.
Nobody responded to the offer during the years after the publication
of the announcement.

This issue is examined in detail in the book `Armenophobia in
Azerbaijan' by A. Adibekyan and A. Elibegova in the chapter
`Dehumanization and demonization of Armenians.'
(https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__stophatespeech.net_en_dehumanization-2Dand-2Ddemonization-2Dof-2Darmenians.html-23-5Fftnref43&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=pWb7bUVvOICxa7coctn04t42FzV2NkTUs4sfQ72RfeY&s=TdZgNmoGmcr-Kjzp9isiqA1Hjfq_1JELARhWmszmNjw&e= )

On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.
Population of the village of Khojaly, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others) was
kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by the
authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as human
shields later.

Residents of Khojaly coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defence forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.
Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.panorama.am_en_news_2016_02_27_ZoriBalayan-25E2-2580-2599s-2Dnonexistent-2Dquotes_1536075&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=pWb7bUVvOICxa7coctn04t42FzV2NkTUs4sfQ72RfeY&s=RDkIxsRe_L0Sj2omMAnnUHW3CPqzdO9epsDPdWu-Q8M&e=

[MosJan]

Pro-Azerbaijani Propagandist Caught in Lies of 1992 Aghdam Events

 

YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — American journalist Thomas Goltz – one of the pillars of the Azerbaijan’s propaganda machine, who “as an eyewitness” actively spreads “facts” about 1992 Aghdam events he allegedly witnessed – was caught on yet another lie.

Thomas Goltz’s article published in the Sunday Times on March 8, 1992 (p. 533) is included in the Azerbaijani propagandistic publication “The Khojaly Genocide” (2006), which compiles all the “proving base” of the Azerbaijani side based on foreign publications and eyewitness accounts.

As any other publication of the kind, which needs an imitation of credibility, Goltz’s article is filled with names of heroes, including those having many children, whose grief should cause “shock and tremor” in the audience.

The names of people, who, according to the journalist’s claims, tragically died a month after the interview of January 1992, are presented in the article.

The first is Zumrut Ezoya, “mother-of-four.” According to Goltz, “she and her family were victims of mass murders committed by the Armenians on February 26.”

The second is Balakishi Shakilov, 55, father-of-five, and his wife Dilbar. According to Goltz, “this couple, their three sons and three daughters were murdered during the assault, as many others were, whom I spoke to.” Here the journalist is so obsessed with myths that he accidentally “kills” a child, who was not originally mentioned in this invented family.

The third is Omar Veyselov, who survived, but lost his wife and daughter.

However, the problem is that the official Baku published the list of names of those dead long ago. The list can be accessed on Xocali.net. (http://xocali.net/ru/comparative.html)

The official list lacks the names of the people mentioned by Goltz.

Goltz worked as a journalist in Turkey and in other countries of the USSR for 15 years, later writing a number of books, among which are ones dedicated to the Karabakh war, where he actively supports Azerbaijan’s point of view.

 

http://asbarez.com/146635/pro-azerbaijani-propagandist-caught-in-lies-of-1992-aghdam-events/

[Yervant1]

THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF TURKEY REFUSES TO PREACH FALSEHOODS ABOUT KHOJALY EVENTS

Politics 17:13 27/02/2016 Region

Speaker of Grand National Assembly Ismail Kahraman along with leaders
of parliamentary factions spread statements condemning Armenia on
the occasion of the 24th anniversary of Khojaly events', Ermeni
Haber reports.

According to the source, the false thesis was defended by Turkey's
leading parties, such as the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP), Republican's People Party (CHP) and the grey wolves of National
Movement.

The People's Democratic Party (HDP) of the Grand National Assembly,
however, refrained from accusations against Armenia and the Armenian
armed forces.

Pro-government newspaper 'Yeni Akit' complained about HDP's behaviour
and called them "Addicted to Armenia".

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.panorama.am_en_news_2016_02_27_TurkeyKhojaly_1536169&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=ZRWPR09plRbNzwNtkg8mPpq9wQsYLpYf7wFTfgeixcs&s=uxMtx0mFAoRshQhSS8mgUBc6vwzXxUG1LrHWX45MDrE&e=

[Yervant1]

OFFICIAL PARIS NOT SPONSORING AZERBAIJANI FESTIVALS ON AGDAM EVENTS: DEFENSE MINISTRY STATE SECRETARY TODESCHINI

20:05, 9 March, 2016

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. French-Armenian Nouvelles d'Arménie
newspaper reports that co-chairs of the Coordination Council
of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) Ara Toranian and Murad
Papazian met with French secretary of state for veterans Jean-Marc
Todeschini on March 7 to discuss ceremony of inflammation of the fire
in the Arc de Triomphe Paris by the Azerbaijani Embassy in France.

"Armenpress" reports that CCAF co-chairs condemned the Azerbaijani
manipulation and using the traditions of French veterans in
anti-Armenian propaganda.

Secretary of state for veterans Jean-Marc Todeschini expressed his
regret over the mentioned propaganda trick by Baku mentioning that
French state is no way sponsoring such events.

After the meeting it became evident for the participants that
Azerbaijani diplomacy tried to carry out a propaganda trick in order
to create an illusion of French state treatment within the framework
of a certain audience.

After the meeting the co-chairs were convinced that the Commission
of Arc de Triomphe Paris were informed by the government on the need
to be vigilant in the future.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__armenpress.am_eng_news_838768_official-2Dparis-2Dnot-2Dsponsoring-2Dazerbaijani-2Dfestivals-2Don-2Dagdam-2Devents-2Ddefense-2Dministry-2Dstate-2Dsecretary.html&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=8YYzUEUJpS4kPHAG0o6Od4dvi6rxgnx6oxozxEyiFFo&s=M8jGnrwXMLg03lNYr_Xrg0VYkuOHmgWHGf2T49B7orY&e=

[Yervant1]

Yair Auron: Israel must stop saying the Azeris were victims of genocide

11:26, 02 Apr 2016

Siranush Ghazanchyan

http://www.armradio.am/en/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Yair-Auron-620x300.jpg

By Yair Auron

Haaretz

In an Israeli forest dedicated to Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, 613 trees were planted last month to mark “24 years since the Khojaly genocide” in Azerbaijan. The only ones commemorating this “genocide” – in which 613 people were allegedly killed – are Azeris, Turks and, in recent years, Israelis. The Azeri press is overjoyed: “It is not surprising that Israelis remember the victims of Khojaly. The Jews know more than any other nation the pain of innocent victims, murdered only because they belonged to a certain group.”

The battle for Khojaly took place in February 1992, at the height of a vicious war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. There are several versions regarding what happened, including a disputed numbers of victims. There are some who claim there was not even a massacre, but one thing is clear: No genocide took place there. I say this as a genocide researcher and as a person who believes that the murder of even one person because of his affiliation is an intolerable crime.

At the start of the war, observers were convinced Azerbaijan would wipe out the Armenian enclave within days, but after six blood-soaked years, with both sides perpetrating massacres, the Armenians won.

The “genocide” at Khojaly is a cynical Azeri fabrication, evil and cruel. It is being fostered by Azerbaijan, which explicitly declares its intention of conquering Nagorno-Karabakh and destroying its villages.

In recent years, the State of Israel – the main arms supplier to Azerbaijan – has become a direct and indirect supporter of these genocide claims. President Reuven Rivlin spoke of the Khojaly tragedy in his January 2015 speech to the UN General Assembly on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, referring to acts of genocide that took place in our time. He didn’t specifically define what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh as genocide, but he linked the two by talking about “the killing in Khojaly.”

Rivlin has previously stated publicly, including when he was Knesset speaker, that Israel should recognize the Armenian genocide (perpetrated by the Ottoman government, starting in 1915), but refuses to repeat this as president. His words at the United Nations were interpreted by both Azeris and Armenians as if he had used the term “genocide” in reference to Khojaly.

To me, the planting of trees in an Israeli forest and the Azeri-Jewish “brotherhood of victims” that was emphasized at the ceremony are a desecration of something sacred. Describing Armenian soldiers as Nazis, the clear links made between the Holocaust and the massacres at Babi Yar, Lidice, Oradour and Khojaly are a terrible distortion of a basic historical truth.

How the wheel of history turns. In April 1918, Weizmann’s personal secretary, Shmuel Tolkowsky, published an article called “The Armenian Question from a Zionist Standpoint.” The article presented the positions of the Zionist Movement at the time, especially that of its London leaders, Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow. It was written with Weizmann’s support and approval.

“We Zionists feel a deep and sincere sympathy for the fate of the Armenian people. We do so as human beings, as Jews and Zionists. As Jews, we were exiled from our ancient land and experienced suffering for many centuries. We were turned, I dare say, into experts on martyrdom. Our humanitarian sensitivities were honed in an unparalleled fashion, to the point where the suffering of other nations, even those alien to us in their origin and distant in their location, cannot but shake our souls, giving rise to a fraternity between us and our suffering brethren, a deep fraternal link that could be termed ‘a brotherhood of sorrow.’

Among all those suffering around us, is there any nation whose history of martyrdom is more similar to ours?”

Last year, after various “Khojaly memorials” and the words of our president at the UN, a very senior Armenian cabinet member invited me to his office. “I speak to you not as a minister in the Armenian government but as one human being to another, as an Armenian to an Israeli Jew: how much more can you hurt us?” he asked. “You don’t recognize the 1915 genocide, you deny it, you sell arms to Azerbaijan – whose only purpose is to obliterate the Republic of Karabakh – and now you take part in events commemorating the ‘genocide in Khojaly,’ topped by your president’s words at the UN. We can’t take it anymore.”

The Dean of Yerevan University, where I teach, was once a student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Earlier this year he said to me, “Yair, you are desecrating all moral values. You are defiling the memory of the Holocaust.”

Mentioning Khojaly and the Holocaust under one title at a recent, so-called scientific conference is indeed a desecration of the Holocaust and its victims. This event was attended by Knesset members and parliamentarians from Azerbaijan. It was organized at the initiative of a group called Aziz, the Israel-Azerbaijan International Association. This is a group the attorney general has been asked to investigate.

The forest where the trees were planted belongs to the Jewish National Fund, an official state institution. Who approved this odious act? Israeli officials talk of “our dear Azeri brothers.” They say: “We, Israelis and Jews, sympathize with your feelings.” Or “Jerusalem, just like Khojaly, was under siege.” And “We express our solidarity with the families of the victims and the Azeri people, solidarity with basic human values.”

Yes, Israel, we are indeed desecrating basic human values, and defiling the memory of the Holocaust and its victims. No one gave us the authority to do so!

The writer is a genocide researcher. This year he launched the “Genocide Studies and Human Rights” course at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.712179

http://www.armradio.am/en/2016/04/02/yair-auron-israel-must-stop-saying-the-azeris-were-victims-of-genocide/

[Yervant1]

Anti-Armenian Documentary Narrated By Actor Jeremy Irons To Air in Europe

May 12, 2016

A controversial documentary about the Khojaly incident will air on
Euro Channel (June 1). Directed by Lithuanian director Aleksandras
Brokas and narrated by British cinema legend Jeremy Irons, ''Endless
Corridor'' follows Lithuanian journalist Richard Lapaitis on a trip
back to Azerbaijan 20 years after he covered the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. This documentary distorts facts, alters reality, fabricates
evidence and jeopardizes its own status as a documentary. Executive
Producer of the documentary Gerald Rafshoon, was the White House
Communications Director under the Jimmy Carter administration. The
official website of the documentary is endlesscorridor.com.

Shot in English, the documentary was translated into Azerbaijani,
Turkish, French, Italian, German and Arabian on the initiative of
vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva. The film
was also shown on Turkey’s “Kanal 24”, “CNN Turk”, Israel’s “Channel
1” TV channels, and Albania’s National Television.

On February 26, 1992, a series of events took place in Aghdam, which
are now referred to as the “Khojaly massacre” by Azerbaijan. In
reality, the village of Khojaly was one of the Azerbaijani army’s
strongholds in the heart of Nagorno-Karabakh which for many months, as
Human Rights Watch put it, “pounded the capital of Nagorno Karabakh,
Stepanakert, and other Armenian towns and villages with shells and
grenades. The indiscriminate shelling and sniper shooting killed or
maimed hundreds of civilians, destroyed homes, hospitals and other
objects that are not legitimate military targets, and generally
terrorized the civilian population.” In this regard, suppressing the
Azerbaijani army’s fire had become a matter of survival for the people
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

As Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev stated, “And even several
days prior to the attack, the Armenians had been continuously warning
the population about the planned operation through loudspeakers and
suggesting that the civilians abandon the town and escape from the
encirclement through a humanitarian corridor. According to Khojaly
refugees’ own words, they had used this corridor and, indeed, the
Armenian soldiers positioned behind the corridor had not opened fire
on them.”

However, Fatullayev continues, “… part of the Khojaly inhabitants had
been fired upon by our own [Azerbaijani troops]… Whether it was done
intentionally or not is to be determined by investigators … [They were
killed] not by [some] mysterious [shooters], but by provocateurs from
the National Front of Azerbaijan’s battalions … [The corpses] had been
mutilated by our own …”

Ayaz Mutalibov, then the president of Azerbaijan, blamed his political
opponents for the killings in Khojaly. He stated in an interview with
Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazetta in 1992 that “…the corridor, by which
people could escape, had nonetheless been left by the Armenians. So,
why did they have to open fire? Especially in the area around Aghdam,
where there was sufficient force at that time to get help to the
people. As the Khojaly inhabitants, who narrowly escaped, say, it was
all organized in order to have grounds for my resignation. Some forces
functioned for the effort to discredit the president.”

The fact that Khojaly inhabitants fell victim to fierce domestic
political fighting for power in Azerbaijan was confirmed also by then
Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Supreme Council Karayev, his successor
Mamedov, Azerbaijani Human Rights Activist Yunusov, and others.

According to a 1992 report by the Azeri newspaper Bilik-Dunyasi
Agency, Heydar Aliyev, then a presidential hopeful in Azerbaijan,
stated, “…the bloodshed will profit us. We should not interfere in the
course of events.”

Fatullayev, the Chief Editor of the Azerbaijani newspaper Realny
Azerbaijan spent many years in prison for alleged defamation of the
inhabitants of Khojaly. He appealed to the European court of Human
Rights, which ruled that the Azerbaijani government shall immediately
release Fatullayev. He was eventually released in 2011 and shortly
after confirmed to Radio Liberty that he has not changed his views on
the Khojaly events and that he held “Azerbaijani fighters, not
Armenians, responsible for the 1992 killings” of Khojaly inhabitants.

“I call on our partner parliamentarians from different states,
municipal and provincial councils to avoid the pitfalls of Azerbaijani
propaganda,” Zakaryan said in his speech in parliament. “Don’t buy
into false information and fictitious events. Keep clean the
parliamentary agendas and don’t let the Azerbaijani propaganda
penetrate there. If you are looking for those responsible for the
Khojaly events, look for them in Azerbaijan.”

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.horizonweekly.ca_news_details_86136&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=QvUO3ZzYZ9wIl5zNoeDCptnzI5NUlIbWY1k4XOwVeJo&s=D6C2Xjt3Zc-LQw17aOHo1EZlbAnzDgMcyuOHZZDlis8&e=

[Yervant1]

Armenia ambassador to Italy: Khojaly events were organized to overthrow then Azerbaijan President Ayaz Mutalibov

15:58, 23.02.2017

http://www.groong.com/news/attachments/msg595039/png4U0RRJrWes.png

It is an ultimate hypocrisy how Azeri officials are misusing the human feelings with this propaganda and lies.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Italy, Victoria Bagdassarian, told the above-said to Agenparl news agency of Italy.

“Ambassador of Azerbaijan, when speaking about Khojaly and the massacres of its population, fails to mention that the inhabitants of Khojaly became victims of criminal internal policy between the then Azeri authorities and National Front of Azerbaijan, an ultra-national movement which was striving for power,” noted the Armenian ambassador. “The Khojaly events were organized by the National Front of Azerbaijan to overthrow [then] President Ayaz Mutalibov, and to come to power. This was confirmed by President Mutalibov himself, a month after his resignation, in an interview to Czech journalist Dana Mazalova, which was published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

“Unfortunately, the official [Azerbaijani] propaganda does not disdain to use any means to put the blame for the events on the Armenian side and inject a new portion of hatred towards Armenians into the minds of its younger generation. They also spread this mendacious information to try to divert the attention from the atrocities they have perpetrated in the Azeri cities of Baku, Sumgait, Kirovabad and elsewhere against its Armenian citizens.

“I very well know that the Azeri propaganda distorts those events as did the Ambassador of Azerbaijan in an interview to your agency. Moreover, if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

https://news.am/eng/news/375056.html

[Yervant1]

http://panorama.am/news_images/578/1733861_3/35.thumb.png

Politics 12:59 24/02/2017

Italian media reports: Distorting facts of Khojaly events, Azerbaijan’s president disturbs peaceful resolution of Karabakh conflict

The Karabakh conflict has not faded since 1992. In April of the last year, the Azerbaijani regime initiated active military action in Karabakh. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic lives in an atmosphere of war and all the residents are ready to take up arms and fight for their country again, Italian website Panorama reports.
On December 1991, using their right to freedom of _expression_ and self-determination, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh held a referendum and declared independence. The referendum was followed by a real military intervention in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by Azerbaijan.

For a year, NKR capital Stepanakert’s civilian population was under the direct fire of rocket launcher “Grad” and was subject to bombardment with cluster bombs by the Azerbaijani aviation. Armenia’s role in the armed phase of the conflict was to protect the civilian population and to provide humanitarian, economic, and diplomatic assistance. NKR Self-Defense Forces were involved in the military operations.

It is noted in the article that the events in Khojaly are one of the terrible pages of the Karabakh conflict; however, the Azerbaijani regime’s statements about the alleged “genocide” are false.

It is emphasized in the article that the Azerbaijani authorities control the country’s media outlets and all the information. The regime in Baku is one of the most authoritarian in the world, and Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev has taken up his post for the third time after inheriting the power from his father.

As for Khojaly events, the “facts” presented by Azerbaijani and several western sources about the alleged “Khojaly genocide” are a clear manipulation of information.

It is highlighted in the article that days before February 25, 1992, the commanders of the NKR Self-Defense Forces informed the Azerbaijani authorities and the civilian population by radio about the inevitability of the military operation for the neutralization of the firing point and the humanitarian corridor left for the evacuation of the civilian population.

Referring to Azerbaijani sources, the Italian website writes that Khojaly resident Salman Abbasov confirms the fact of the warning by radio. He also confirms that the local authorities did not allow evacuating the population. “When it was already possible to evacuate women, children, and elderly people, the Azerbaijanis did not let us do it,” Abbasov said.

It is known from the Azerbaijani sources that the then mayor of Khojaly, Elman Mammadov, was aware of the attack and asked for helicopters, however, the authorities in Baku did not help him at all.

Azerbaijani MP Ramiz Fataliev’s (Chairman of the commission investigating the events) statements are also remarkable. According to him, four days before the Khojaly events, during the meeting of the of the National Security Council of Azerbaijan, in the presence of the president, Prime Minister, KGB head and others, it was decided not to evacuate civilians from Khojaly.

It is noted in the article that the evidence speaks about the fact that the civilian population served as a human shield for the Azerbaijani authorities for protecting the firing point.

In this regard, an extract from the former Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutallibov’s interview is presented. In the interview, he, in fact, confirms that the events were organized by the Azerbaijani opposition in order to overthrow him. “The general picture of the events is that the Armenians really left the corridor, through which people could leave. Why did they have to shoot in this case? Moreover, at a territory near Aghdam, where at that time there were enough forces in order to help people,” the former president stated.

Ayaz Mutallibov’s interview, which was printed in the newspaper “Novoe Vremya” on March 6, 2001, read: “It was obvious that someone had organized the slaughter in order to change the power in Azerbaijan.” Thereby, Mutallibov hinted at the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, the groups of which were placed near Khojaly.

Several Azerbaijani public figures and journalists also made statements and remarks of the kind. However, the Azerbaijani ruling regime led by president Ilham Aliyev spreads Armenophobia with the help of its “truth” about Khojaly. Those, who dared to challenge the “truth,” were either arrested or killed. All this and using the civilians as a shield makes Azerbaijan’s criminal liability more obvious. Figures also show the same: according to SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), during the last seven years, Azerbaijan’s military expenditure increased by 2500%. These data are compatible with Nazi Germany’s rearmament in the 1930s.

Thia fact, frequent violations of the ceasefire agreement signed in 1994, Azerbaijani ruling elite’s obvious military statements, and dissemination of Armenophobia in the schools of the country certainly represent a huge obstacle for the negotiation process under the mediation of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Currently, Azerbaijan refuses to negotiate directly with the democratically elected government of Artsakh and is negative towards the offers of the OSCE to withdraw snipers from the contact line and create a collaborative mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations. Armenia, on the other hand, intends to come to the resolution of the conflict through negotiations. This decision excludes military action for achieving the ultimate goal. The international community shares this position.

The article ends with the first soviet Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov’s words: “Peace, Progress, Human Rights - these three goals are insolubly linked to one another: it is impossible to achieve one of these goals if the other two are ignored.”

On February 26, 1992, during the Karabakh war, around 200 to 300 people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances near the city of Aghdam. They were deliberately withheld by the Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions. The authorities of Azerbaijan intentionally kept the population in the village for months by force and did not evacuate them in order to use them as human shields later as the village was one of the firing points for shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others).

The residents of Khojaly, coming out through the humanitarian corridor the self-defense forces of the NKR had left open, freely passed more than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani troops. Later, dead bodies of the villagers were foundnot far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops. The exact death toll remains unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other. Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev, the investigative materials are kept secret.

Armine Adibekyan: Baku sole purpose to discredit Armenia

The People’s Democratic Party of Turkey refuses to preach falsehoods about Khojaly events

Armenian Ambassador to Italy advises his Azerbaijani colleague to study facts about Karabakh conflict from objective sources

http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/02/24/Italian-media/1733861

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Italian Senator Criticizes Colleague for Pro-Azerbaijan Speech on Khojaly Events

• 24/02/17

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/MariaRizzotto.jpg

Italian Senator Maria Rizzotto

ROME, Italy—Italian Senator Aldo Di Biagio criticized fellow senator Maria Rizzotti’s February 21 speech about the Khojaly incident, assessing it as one-sided and based only on pro-Azerbaijani rhetoric.

Rizzotti—a member of friendship group with Azerbaijan—urged in her speech to declare February 26 “Remembrance Day of Khojaly Genocide” at the Italian Senate.

Senator Biagio said that the Senate does not support Rizzotti’s speech. During his speech on Tuesday, he stated that speaking about the Khojaly events and assessing it as “genocide” means to accept the biased opinion of the Baku authorities but is denied by facts. “There is no reference to the fact that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh reaffirmed their right to self-determination through referendum,” Biagio said. He also noted that his colleague bypassed in her speech the provocations and the spread of Armenophobia by Baku authorities, which hamper the OSCE Minsk Group Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) peace process.

“Ignoring all this means to ignore facts and spread partial information which is pregnant with the risk of being mistaken for the truth, since the issue has been raised in this reputable establishment of the Senate of the Republic, and this is a very serious country,” he concluded.

The minutes of the Tuesday session at the Senate reportedly did not include Rizzotti’s proposition to declare February 26 as a “Khojaly Genocide” remembrance day.

http://asbarez.com/160521/italian-senator-criticizes-colleague-for-pro-azerbaijan-speech-on-khojaly-events/

[Yervant1]

http://panorama.am/news_images/579/1734572_3/51.thumb.png

13:07 25/02/2017 Region

Chingiz Mustafayev on Aghdam events: 10 Azerbaijanis were walking among corpses 600 meters away from our post

Azerbaijani journalist Chingiz Mustafayev known for his shooting of military action in the region of the Karabakh conflict was one of those, who told the truth about Khojaly events. Mustafayev taped corpses of Khojaly residents found near the Azerbaijani positions not far from Aghdam in March 1992 and made public the information about the real perpetrators of Khojaly tragedy.

“On February 28 (1992), when I got there, I asked permission to cross over to the other side and see how the tragedy had happened. I was told that there were bodies only in Khojaly, talks had been held with the Armenians, and the bodies had been exchanged and brought back. Khojaly residents told me that the corpses were near pig farms, and that there were also people left alive. Khojaly residents went there on foot and hid there,” Mustafayev said.

Upon hearing that, the journalist asked them to provide him with a helicopter, a car, or let him go there on foot. They again told him that it was impossible to get there: everyone was massacred; Armenians were allegedly keeping the place under fire, and so on.

“On February 29, while flying by military helicopter to the same place from the village Umudlu, we flew over that side at my request. I saw with my own eyes that I had already passed through that place. The pig farm was 10 kilometers away from Khojaly. More than 50 bodies were scattered seven hundred meters away from our post near Derebeyi. The fact that I saw 10 of our citizens walking among the corpses on the shots taken from above is still a mystery causing shiver. Those people in military uniforms were from Aghdam. I have those shots - they are calmly walking among the corpses. I am still told that there were no bodies, no one could get there, as there were Armenians there and so on. However, when we finally got off the helicopter, three of the helicopters immediately returned to Aghdam allegedly ‘forgetting’ us there. Those 10, having walked there on foot, left on foot,” the journalist emphasized.

According to him, his group was shooting there for 45 minutes. The place was 25 meters away from the road to Nakhichevanik. Cars of Armenians passed through the road twice. They noticed the journalist and his group, who then walked back to Aghdam.

“I still cannot understand why the corpses 6-7 hundred meters away from our posts, among which 10 our people were freely walking, were not taken away. Corpses had been exchanged and brought back from Khojaly provided there were negotiations.

As you see, allegedly, it was a ‘trap’: the Armenians kill our people. It was not allowed to go there also because the Armenians were killing people there,” Mustafayev said.
As for the committee created for the investigation of the events, the journalist noted that he had suspicions about its work.

According to him, the committee was going to show that it worked. However, the committee would be included in the Committee investigating the January tragedy, the helicopter tragedy, and all the tragedies in general, and the investigation would last at least 5-6 years. It was unknown, when it would end.
Forces responsible for those tragedies are preparing something new day by day.

Chingiz Mustafayev was killed on June 15, 1992. He was posthumously awarded the National Hero of Azerbaijan title for his shootings of the military action in the region of the Karabakh conflict. Chingiz Mustafayev is primarily known for his taping of the Khojaly residents’ corpses found near the Azerbaijani positions not far from Aghdam in January 1992. He videotaped those corpses on March 2, 1992. When Mustafayev told Azerbaijan’s former president Ayaz Mutallibov that the bodies’ positions and the corpses’ injuries were not compatible with the initial inspection, the president told him “not to say a single word about it, otherwise, he would be killed.”

https://youtu.be/x-mDkaRHqP0

http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/02/25/Chingiz-Mustafayev-Aghdam/1734572

[Yervant1]

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13:26 25/02/2017

Videos, which has recently appeared on Internet, confirms Azerbaijani armed forces’ involvement in Khojaly tragedy

Azerbaijani journalist Chingiz Mustafayev known for his shooting of military action in the region of the Karabakh conflict was one of those, who told the truth about Khojaly events. Mustafayev taped corpses of Khojaly residents found near the Azerbaijani positions not far from Aghdam in March 1992 and made public the information about the real perpetrators of Khojaly tragedy. Facts about Khojaly events in the video, which has recently appeared on the Net, confirm the Azerbaijani armed forces’ involvement in the tragedy.

“This program was not aired. They said this program was against soldiers of the national army or the President of the Supreme Council and so on. But there was only one reason. They knew that we would eventually introduce the program to people, no matter how difficult it might be. We had to know the truth,” Mustafayev said.

 

https://youtu.be/BSMmA4eq5_k

It is noted in the video that it is easy to examine how the Parliamentary Committee for Investigating the Khojaly tragedy operated.

“Committee has already completed its work. However, people will not be informed about the results owing to the same secret reasons, as the tragedy itself. We think they will never be informed because the eyewitnesses of the tragedy are no longer among us,” the voiceover in the video emphasizes.
It is also noted that according to the then chairman of Azerbaijan’s Popular Front Party and vice chairman of Supreme Council, Tamerlan Garayev, “if he unveiled everything he knew about Khojalу tragedy, even his tongue would be burnt.”

“However, unlike Garayev, Chingiz’s and his followers’ tongues are not burnt. As you know, Chingiz took shots of the tragedy twice and there are significant differences between the first and the second shootings.
The first time Chingiz visited the scene, he was the only journalist among others, who visited the place, but his presence had not been planned. Nobody knew he had got on the helicopter. At that time, soldiers had to bring only a few corpses from the scene.”

The photographed corpses from Khojaly were much closer to Aghdam. When Chingiz saw the people, who were walking among the corpses and escaped upon seeing the helicopter, he started to get suspicious. They were not Armenians.

“Several questions arise. How did those people get there without helicopter? Why and where were they taking the corpses? And if there was a road, why nobody protected these victims?”

The questions were very interesting. And maybe for the same reason, the helicopter that had accidently brought Chingiz to the scene, allegedly forgot him and found it necessary to leave him there.

This (2:03) is Chingiz’s first visit and first shooting. As you can see, the corpses are not mutilated. Here the bodies are just the way they were.

https://youtu.be/BSMmA4eq5_k

(2:10) This is the second visit organized to demonstrate the journalists from all over the world the “atrocities” of the Armenians. It was planned to show the conditions the civilians were in, allegedly because of the “Armenian bandits.”

https://youtu.be/BSMmA4eq5_k

Chingiz’s camera once again saw everything (2:23).

https://youtu.be/BSMmA4eq5_k

(2:24) And now, you see this poor man on the photo made for the first time.

https://youtu.be/BSMmA4eq5_k

And this is the photo made for the second time (2:29). But the same poor is scalped here.
Chingiz Mustafayev: “I took this photo yesterday in the afternoon, and there was nothing like this!” Mustafayev said.

https://youtu.be/BSMmA4eq5_k

Questions arise regarding who did it in one day. There are many unanswered questions of the kind.
Chingiz Mustafayev was killed on June 15, 1992. He was posthumously awarded the National Hero of Azerbaijan title for his shootings of the military action in the region of the Karabakh conflict. Chingiz Mustafayev is primarily known for his taping of the Khojaly residents’ corpses found near the Azerbaijani positions not far from Aghdam in January 1992.

He videotaped those corpses on March 2, 1992. When Mustafayev told Azerbaijan’s former president Ayaz Mutallibov that the bodies’ positions and the corpses’ injuries were not compatible with the initial inspection, the president told him “not to say a single word about it, otherwise, he would be killed.”

http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/02/25/Khojaly-tragedy/1734582

[Yervant1]

Sharmazanov: Ankara`s statement on Khojaly events is the same if at Mussolini period Hitler expressed solidarity

Saturday, February 25 2017 16:23

Tatevik Shahunyan

http://arminfo.info/images/SourceImage/Turtsiya-i-Azerbaydzhan1.jpg

ArmInfo.Ankara's statement regarding Khojaly events reminiscent of the situation, as if Hitler had expressed his solidarity with his ally Mussolini, the Vice President of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov said in an interview with ArmInfo in response to condolences of Turkish President to Azerbaijani colleague on Khojaly events.

 

"It turns out that one expresses support to another. Instead of the so condole and condemnation, it would be better if the Turkish authorities got acquainted to the interview of former Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov, in which he assured that Armenians are not involved in the events in Khojaly", summed up the Vice President.

 

To note, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences to the people of Azerbaijan regarding the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly events. "We honor the memory of victims of Khojaly tragedy and wish patience to Azerbaijani people", said Erdogan.

 

The Armenian community of experts believes the untwisted by the Baku ideologists "genocide" of Azerbaijanis in Khojalu to be a myth created by Heydar Aliyev and taken up heir Aliyev Jr. in order to divert international attention from the mass riots and massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, and many other settlements in Azerbaijan, the monstrous massacre of old men, women and children in the Karabakh village of Maragha, where in April 1992, the units of the invading Azerbaijani regular army brutally killed about 100 civilians, and overall brutality of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the course of large-scale military adventure against the Artshakh Republic, which finished with total failure of Baku. At the same time Baku propagandists are trying hard to ignore well-known facts and evidences, including the assessment of some of the former high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan, human rights defenders, journalists and residents of Khojaly on the above events, denying the false official version. In other words, the tragic events in Khojaly became a political propaganda capital of the official Baku.

 

- See more at: http://arminfo.info/full_news.php?id=24423&lang=3#sthash.tDurbQH4.dpuf

[Yervant1]

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Politics 11:00 28/02/2017 Region

Azerbaijan’s former president Ayaz Mutallibov: Chingiz Mustafayev’s materials prove betrayal of national interests

Politicians, who spread ideas about Russia’s role in “Karabakh’s loss” and that Russia is allegedly behind the Armenians, “scare the Azerbaijanis and are engaged in sabotage,” Azerbaijan’s former president Ayaz Mutallibov told the Azerbaijani information portal Avrasiya.org stating that if Azerbaijan “builds the right politics,” the Russians “will be on its side,” which will result in “peaceful resolution of the problems in Karabakh.”

Mutallibov remembered that as a result of the “right politics,” “Operation Ring” was organized, during which inhabitants of villages throughout the whole perimeter of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast – ethnic Armenians – were deported under the pretext of “expulsion of Armenian militants.”

Regarding the traditional question for Ayaz Mutallibov about the Aghdam events, he noted that the tragedy could have been avoided, if there was no battle for power, which disturbed him.

“The help was not sent to Khojaly, but to another direction. Khojaly was left without any help. Unfortunately, fighting for power, they had left the front without leadership,” Mutallibov stated.

He also answered to the question regarding the videos taped by Chingiz Mustafayev. The videos “caused unnecessary dispute” in the Azerbaijani society again.

“I am aware of Chingiz’s videos. They prove that our traitors were among the participants of the Khojaly massacre,” he said adding that he had no opportunity “to analyze comprehensively Chigiz’s materials.”

In the former president’s opinion, it is a “betrayal of national interests.” Summing up, Ayaz Mutallibov said: “I believe the war will start soon.”

http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/02/28/Chingiz-Mustafayev/1735637

[Yervant1]

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Politics 17:14 01/03/2017 World

Arab newspaper: Azerbaijan actively speculates on Aghdam events in order to distract attention from pogroms of Armenians

Embassy of Armenia in Syria published an article in the influential Arab newspaper Al-Watan presenting Azerbaijan’s manipulations and falsifications about Aghdam events.

It is noted that in early 1992, Azerbaijan used Khlojaly in order to fire Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert. As a result, houses, schools, hospitals, and buildings of state institutions were destroyed. The Azerbaijani authorities turned Khojlay into a firing point closing access to Karabakh’s only airport, through which the population was provided with food and medicine.

Moreover, Azerbaijan used Khojaly as a firing point for shelling the nearby Armenian-populated villages. Therefore, the neutralization of Khojaly’s firing point by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army forces was a justified measure from the point of view of saving the civilians.

Following the start of the military operation on the neutralization of the firing point, the civilian population used the humanitarian corridor left by the Armenian side in order to move to Aghdam, which was under Azerbaijan’s control at that time. However, the population faced bloody events there.

Therefore, the authors emphasize that it is obvious that the Azerbaijani authorities failed the evacuation of the civilian population from the settlement and that they are responsible for the death of hundreds of people in Aghdam.

“Since then, Baku adopted the strategy of falsifying all the facts and materials of that humanitarian catastrophe and disseminating hatred and horror towards the Armenians among the representatives of the international community,” the article reads.

Falsifying photos is one of Azerbaijan’s most common methods. The authorities use photos of the Kosovo War, victims of 1983 earthquake in Turkey, poor children in Afghanistan, as well as corpses of Hamas militants in Palestine presenting them as Azerbaijanis, who were killed by the Armenians.

“We all have to work on raising the awareness of the international community in order to expose Azerbaijan’s lies. The aim of the active propaganda of ‘Khojaly events’ is to distract the international community’s attention from the pogroms of the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, and other Azerbaijani settlements, ethnic cleansing of the Armenians in 28 villages, as well as tragic events in Maragha,” the authors note.
They also highlight that the Azerbaijani side tries to distort Armenia’s international image speculating on the memory of the civilians, who became victims to internal political intrigues and struggle for power in Azerbaijan.

The real perpetrator of the tragedy is Azerbaijan’s Popular Front led by Abulfaz Elchibey. He became the country’s president after the Aghdam events and started to speculate on those events in order to get rid of the former president, Ayaz Mutallibov.

Therefore, Azerbaijan’s political and military leadership is responsible for the death of the civilians in Aghdam.
“The Azerbaijani side cannot answer to simple questions yet. Why the corpses of the victims were found near Aghdam, which was under the control of the Azerbaijani forces? Why there was no organized evacuation of the civilian population despite the Armenians’ warnings on the adio?” the authors wonder.

It is also noted that in subsequent years, the civil rights activists and journalists, who attempted to reveal the truth, were either arrested under the pretext of collaborating with the Security Services of Armenia or died under unclear circumstances. That is why nobody dares to demand that the authorities reveal the truth.
Summing up, the authors note that Azerbaijan continues to disseminate intolerance and armenophobia in the society, and that politics makes the dialogue difficult between the two nations.

On February 26, 1992, during the Karabakh war, around 200 to 300 people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances near the city of Aghdam. They were deliberately withheld by the Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions. The authorities of Azerbaijan intentionally kept the population in the village for months by force and did not evacuate them in order to use them as human shields later as the village was one of the firing points for shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others).

The residents of Khojaly, coming out through the humanitarian corridor the self-defense forces of the NKR had left open, freely passed more than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani troops. Later, dead bodies of the villagers were foundnot far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops. The exact death toll remains unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other. Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev, the investigative materials are kept secret.

http://alwatan.sy/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/259511.pdf

http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/03/01/Arab-newspaper/1736881

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Panorama, Armenia

Feb 25 2019

Politics 19:27 25/02/2019 Armenia

Anzhela Elibekova: February 26 appears to be a good occasion to test Azerbaijanis readiness for peace

February 26 marks the anniversary of Khojaly events and the date is a good occasion to test the readiness of the Azerbaijani public for peace, Anzhela Elibekova, expert in the South Caucasus told Panorama.am during an interview. Over the past few days Elibekova has explored Azerbaijani media reports and has come to conclusion that an active anti-Armenian propaganda is conducted despite commitments to prepare the people for peace.

“They announce about readiness to get prepared for peace, yet at the same time continue ramping up anti-Armenian sentiments among the public. The peace agenda thus appears to be fake,” Elibekova said. The expert pointed to the intensity of anti-Armenian events happening both in Azerbaijan and abroad that has been the case with previous years as well. The hatred is reinforced by statements from officials and experts of various caliber that often-spread disinformation, hatred and insults.

During the time of working at the Public Relations and Information Centre SNC, Elibekova along with number of experts initiated the “Xocali.net” project that documents the real events in the beginning of the 90s and exposes Azerbaijani falsification and distortion of facts.

«A database of facts was created with documentaries and a special website “Xocali.net” that should be presented to the Armenian and Azerbaijani public as well as the international community. This should be done first of all through diplomatic channels in order to prevent Azerbaijani propaganda activities in different countries - be those protests, or adoption of various resolutions,” Elibekova said.

“Xocali.net” website discloses Azerbaijani side’s mass falsifications concerning the tragedy, in which peaceful inhabitants of the village of Khojaly were killed. The website features many materials, including photo and video, exposing the activities of Azerbaijani Propaganda Machine that had been misleading the international community over the death of peaceful citizens for many years.

This year a small group of experts have created a new publication titled “What happened in Khojaly” available in three languages that provides information about Khojaly in Q/A format and discloses Azerbaijani side’s mass falsifications concerning the tragic events.
“The tragic events definitely took place on the night of February 25-26 claiming human lives. The tragic cannot go unpunished and the real perpetrators should be held responsible instead of those who were blamed or wanted to be seen as the assailants,” the authors of the publication say.

Some inconsistencies about the Khojaly event disseminated by the Azerbaijani propaganda can be found here. http://xocali.net/en/11-q.html.

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2019/02/25/Anzhela-Elibekova/2077625

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ArmenPress, Armenia

March 4 2019

Azerbaijani propaganda attempt backfires in most humiliating way

13:40, 4 March, 2019

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Yet another Azerbaijani state sanctioned attempt of propaganda has backfired in the most embarrassing way possible. The Azerbaijani embassy in Iran hosted a photo exhibition regarding the Khojaly events, but one of the photo exhibits on the wall didn’t have anything to do with Khojaly – it was a more than 100 year old photo depicting a dying Armenian woman during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Apparently the Azerbaijanis were so much in a hurry to collect unrelated photographs depicting death that they didn’t even know what they are doing. This bizarre gaffe once more shows that the Azerbaijani government is carrying out a state-level fake propaganda on the Khojaly events, but this time their hasty attempt to choose a photo that would mislead the visitors ended in embarrassment. Seems like they simply wanted a photograph depicting distress, pain, death or any kind of misfortune regardless from what era.

The story was revealed by an Iranian media outlet, placing Azerbaijani Ambassador to Iran Buniad Huseynov in an embarrassing situation.

According to Iran-based Araks Armenian weekly, the Iranian Azariha online platform debunked and voiced about the incident by studying the photo.

“An unusual incident has taken place during this year’s photo exhibition organized in Tehran, that was organized by the Baku embassy and which was attended by the country’s ambassador and several former Iranian diplomats who have served in Baku. What’s unusual is that several photos exhibited at this gallery are stolen photos, which actually date back to the times of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, which the government of Baku has presented to be Khojaly victims,” the Iranian media outlet said in an article entitled “The Lying Shepherd”.

Azariha added that a photo depicting a dead woman in a dry desert has been included in the exhibition, whereas Khojaly is located in a semi-mountainous cold and snow-covered area between Aghdam and Askeran.

“Studies of the photo showed that it depicts the forced deportation of Armenians to Syria, Aleppo in the Ottoman Empire: the photo has been taken from the US Library of Congress,” Azariha said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/966256/

[Yervant1]

Azerbaijan Enlists Infamous Congressman

Hastings in its Anti-Armenian Propaganda

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Cong. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) is the latest transmitter of Azeri
propaganda. He issued a statement on February 25, 2019, which he
entered in the Congressional Record, accusing Armenians of killing 613
Azeri men, women, and children on Feb. 26, 1992, in the Khojaly
village of Azerbaijan during the height of the Artsakh (Karabagh) war.
Human Rights Watch placed the number of Azeri dead at 161.
Nevertheless, even the single loss of life is regrettable be it Azeri
or Armenian. Cong. Hastings, a member of Azerbaijan Congressional
Caucus, called the alleged killings “the Khojaly Massacre.”

These killings are controversial with Armenians and Azeris blaming
each other for the deaths. In recent years, the government of
Azerbaijan has made these killings a cause celebre, organizing
observances in various countries and accusing Armenians not only of
committing a massacre, but a genocide. These propaganda observances
are funded by what is known as “caviar diplomacy,” meaning that
Azerbaijan bribes government officials around the world to block
decisions critical of Azerbaijan or adopt resolutions in its favor.

It is ironic that while Azerbaijan describes the alleged killing of
613 Azeris a genocide, it shamelessly denies the actual genocide of
1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923.

On March 3, 1997, the Armenian Foreign Ministry circulated a statement
to members of the United Nations General Assembly and Security
Council, rejecting the statement issued by Azerbaijan on February 22,
1997 on “the Khojalu event.” Armenia quoted the words of the then
President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov who had stated that the
Azerbaijani National Front “actively obstructed and actually prevented
the exodus of the local [Azeri] population through the mountain
passages specifically left open by Karabakh Armenians to facilitate
the flight of the civilian population.” Mutalibov had made that
statement in the days following “the Khojalu event” in an interview
with Czech journalist Dana Mazalova published in the April 2, 1992
issue of the Russian newspaper Nizavisimaya Gazeta.

By organizing such propaganda observances, Azerbaijan’s officials have
found a convenient way of countering the mass murder of Armenians in
the Azeri towns of Sumgait (Feb. 28, 1988), Gyanja (November 1988),
and Baku (January 1990) as well as the Armenian genocide by Ottoman
Turkey.

Azerbaijan could not have found a more infamous member of U.S.
Congress to carry out its propaganda war against Armenia. Prior to
becoming a member of Congress, Hastings served as a United States
District or Federal Judge from 1979 to 1989, at which time he was
impeached and removed from office!

According to Wikipedia, “In 1981, [Judge] Hastings was charged with
accepting a $150,000 bribe in exchange for a lenient sentence and a
return of seized assets for 21 counts of racketeering by Frank and
Thomas Romano, and of perjury in his testimony about the case. In
1983, he was acquitted by a jury after his alleged co-conspirator,
William Borders, refused to testify in court, resulting in a jail
sentence for Borders.”

“In 1988, the Democratic-controlled United States House of
Representatives took up the case, and Hastings was impeached for
bribery and perjury by a vote of 413–3. He was then convicted on
October 20, 1989, by the United States Senate, becoming the sixth
federal judge in the history of the United States to be removed from
office by the Senate. The Senate, in two hours of roll calls, voted on
11 of the 17 articles of impeachment. It convicted Hastings of eight
of the 11 articles. The vote on the first article was 69 for and 26
opposed….”

Cong. Hastings was disgraced for the second time when a staff member
of the Helsinki Commission for which he was the Chairman, accused him
of inappropriate sexual behavior. The Roll Call newspaper reported on
December 8, 2017 that the U.S. Treasury Department secretly paid the
staffer $220,000 to settle an alleged sexual harassment case against
Cong. Hastings.

Winsome Packer, the staff member of the congressional commission,
stated in a written document that Cong. Hastings touched her, made
unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. In her lawsuit,
Packer stated “that Hastings repeatedly asked to stay at her apartment
or to visit her hotel room. Packer also said he frequently hugged her,
and once asked her what kind of underwear she was wearing,” according
to Roll Call. Cong. Hastings denied the accusation.

Finally, it appears that Cong. Hastings has maintained extensive
contacts with the BGR Group, a major U.S. firm that is paid $50,000 a
month to lobby for Azerbaijan in Washington.

Under the federal FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) laws, every
lobbying firm has to register with the U.S. Justice Department,
disclosing the contract signed with the foreign entity. More
importantly, the lobbying firm’s employees are required to report to
the Justice Department every contact they make with outsiders on
behalf of their clients, whether by email, phone call, or personal
meeting.

For example, during the six-month period of December 1, 2017 to May
30, 2018, BGR reported contacting congressional offices hundreds of
times. Each time the subject matter was listed as “U.S.-Azerbaijan
Relations.” Cleverly, BGR had hidden the name of the Congressman or
Senator, mentioning only his or her staff member’s name.

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) conducted a lengthy
investigation to identify the names of the Congress members for whom
these staff members worked. The ANCA investigation disclosed that on
Nov. 17, 2017, Feb. 27, March 5, March 12, April 30, May 22, May 23,
and May 30, 2018 BGR lobbyists emailed Tom Carnes, a staff member of
Cong. Hastings. BGR also had a meeting with Tom Carnes on May 30,
2018. In addition, on May 22, 2018, lobbyists from BGR e-mailed
Susannah Jackson of Cong. Hastings office. In addition, on Nov. 2,
2017, Rob Mangas, Tim Hutchinson, K. Laurie McKay, Killoran Long, and
Albert Wynn on behalf of a lobbying firm for Turkey, Greenberg
Traurig, had discussions with Lale Morrison from the office of Cong.
Hastings regarding U.S.-Turkish relations. Finally, on Oct. 27, 2017,
Lydia Borland on behalf of another lobbying firm for Turkey, LB
International Solutions, LLC, met with Lale Morrison from the office
of Cong. Hastings regarding U.S.-Turkey relations.

No wonder that Cong. Hastings was given the low grade of D and D plus
in recent years by the ANCA for not supporting various Armenian issues
in Congress.

Azerbaijan has tried to cover up its crimes against Armenians and
human rights violations of its deprived citizens by bribing foreign
officials around the world and blaming others for its own wrongdoing.

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Famous Lithuanian historian authors article on genocidal policy of Azerbaijan against Armenians

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21:07, 29 March, 2019

YEREVAN, MARECH 29, ARMENPRESS. The article of famous Lithuanian historian Algis Kasperavičius headlined “Why call it genocide, when it is not one?” was published in http://www.bernardinai.ltnews website . ARMENPRESS reports the author refers to the false claims of Azerbaijanis about the so-called “Khojaly genocide”, as well as the genocidal policy against Armenians in Azerbaijan and the lobbyist activities of Azerbaijanis in Lithuania and other countries.

The article runs as follows,

“Recently, on February 25, 2019, Irma Ąžuolė (it is probably a nickname) published an article Unbelievable: Genocide in the Modern World the title of which perfectly reflects the reality. Genocides are still going on in African states - Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (it is the official name of the state), Sudan and also in the Middle East - Iraq and Syria, where the so called ISIS and other islamic extremist groups have massively killed local Christians, yazidis and Shiite Muslims. Middle Eastern Christians whose ancestors were the first to accept Jesus Christ’s teaching became martyrs as well.

They had to experience another genocide a hundred years later after surviving the first one. At the beginning of the 20th century, between 1915 and 1923, Turkish authorities organized massacres against Christians in Asia Minor and the Middle East. In the latter, massacres were not as massive as in Asia Minor. Felix Koneczny, a Polish historian and philosopher, who was also a professor in Vilnius University at the beginning of the 20th century, wrote the following in his book Byzantine Civilization: “In Asia Minor (i. e. present Turkey) there lived 9 millions of Muslims and 3 millions of Christians. 10 years later, Christians were almost killed off. In 1923, the greatest countries recognized the whole Asia Minor as a legit territory of Ottoman Empire.” With a silent permission and support of the greatest countries, Christianity was almost destroyed. However, Christian minorities remained in Arab countries - Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. In the latter two, they still experience the horror of genocide. A forgotten thinker of the 19th century once wrote, that history repeats itself. It is a tragedy if it happens the first time and a comedy when it repeats itself. Unfortunately, for the Middle Eastern Christians, the second time was a tragedy as well.

In the article, I. Ąžuolė calls tragic events in Khodjali village a genocide, committed in Nagorno-Karabakh during the war between local Armenians and Azerbaijani forces. On February 26, 1992, Nagorno-Karabakh forces began a military operation near Khodjali, where, according to I. Ąžuolė, on 940 km2 there lived 7 thousand of Muslims, mostly Azerbaijanis. It is unbelievable for a village to have such a huge area, but it is probably a proofreading mistake. The main purpose of Armenians attacking was to suppress Azerbaijani artillery that at that time had already attacked Stepanakert and the airport nearby. After the assault that ended with the capture of Khodjali, most civilians, including women and children, were found killed 12 km off the village. The dead bodies were maimed. Before the Khodjali attack,

Armenian military command reported that the humanitarian corridor was opened in order to help inhabitants to escape. Unfortunately, these calls were ignored or simply left unheard, thus Azerbaijani authorities did not arrange an evacuation. It does not seem perfectly clear weather the decision was made deliberately or not. However, during the Khodjali assault many civilians were killed, people were trying to escape desperately not only through the humanitarian corridor, but also over the mountains. Therefore, people died not only from the firing of Armenian troops who started a fire not recognizing people approaching their front, but also from harsh natural conditions. Nevertheless, many of the refugees reached the Azerbaijani-controlled territory.

The article discusses disfigured dead bodies which were demonstrated to foreign journalists in the Azerbaijani-controlled territory, thus, a question arises. If people injured by Armenians reached Azerbaijani-controlled territory and died there, it was impossible for Armenians to disfigure their bodies… During the war, dead or wounded civilians were never considered as victims of genocide, though the author of the article claims otherwise.

She uncritically supports the official position of the Azerbaijani government, that has created a myth about “Khodjali genocide” in order to divert the world’s attention from the massacre and expulsion of Armenians organized by Azerbaijanis. Armenians that had lived in Azerbaijan for centuries became refugees, except those who were brutally killed. It was a result of the Armenian massacres and pogroms committed in Azerbaijan between 1988 and 1991.

The first Armenian extermination was committed on February 27-29, 1988, in the city of Soviet Azerbaijan, Sumgait, which is 25 km away from the capital Baku. The massacre was a ‘response’ to the request of the Council of People’s Deputies of the Armenian populated Nagorno-Karabakh to incorporate the territory into Armenian SSR. Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh had long sought to be incorporated into Soviet Armenia and hoped that the policy of Glasnost and Perestroika finally provides that chance.

After all, this was a common practice in the USSR, thus Nikita Khrushchev’s decision to transfer Crimea to Ukraine was not the only case. After World War II, some territories of Latvia and Estonia, inhabited almost exclusively by Russians, were also incorporated into Russia. Naturally, the incorporation under the conditions of democratization of the USSR in the Nagorno-Karabakh could not have been made in one day with Moscow decision, but only through negotiations and mutual coordination of interests. However, the Azerbaijani authorities did not even want to hear about it. The so-called People’s Front of Azerbaijan particularly fiercely stood against Armenians. Its external similarity with the Estonian People’s Front or the Lithuanian Sąjūdis did not mislead our current leaders. Arvydas Juozaitis noticed that it is impossible to compare Estonia with Azerbaijan. The first one is similar to Finland, while the second one - to Afghanistan.

After the Sumgait massacre which was widely discussed in the Western media, Armenians were continuously being killed and persecuted in Azerbaijan. On January, 1990 pogroms reached its peak in Baku. Only at the end of pogroms Soviet army troops came to Baku and enabled the escape for Armenians through Caspian Sea. Their property was completely stolen and destroyed. Baku as well as the whole Azerbaijan has been ‘freed from Armenians’ since 1990. Armenians themselves have written a lot about Baku tragedy, but here will be provided another proof from neutral source that reveals the essence of the problem from a different perspective.

Eduard Topol, a Jewish-Russian writer, born and raised in Baku, living in the US since 1978, in one of his articles addresses the oligarch Boris Abramovich Berezovsky, urging him to take care of poor people in Russia and gives him an example when good deeds were rewarded. The story happened to his young and wealthy friend who always helped the poor. The reorganization has opened up even more opportunities for him. His fiancée was a wealthy Armenian as well, but on January, 1990 her house in Baku was devastated and partially burned. The friend of Topol had the opportunity to move out from Baku easily, but his fiancée wanted to look at her home for the last time. They were walking together in the garden, where they found some family pictures thrown out, when Azerbaijanis appeared, armed with metal pipes, axes and other killing tools. As Azerbaijanis spotted her, they immediately came to kill her. E. Topol’s friend had a gun, but it hardly could save their lives.

Suddenly the crowd howl “Death to Armenian!” was interrupted by a voice of an elderly man: “Stop it! Don’t you know him? He never refused to help us, the poor, with any trouble. Leave them alone”. As the crowd dispersed, they both went out on the street and drove straight to the airport. This story seems to be very romantic, but it reflects the horror of massacres and vandalism as experienced by Armenians in Baku.

Not to left unmentioned, there were not comparatively too many Armenians killed, firstly they wanted to intimidate them and force to leave Azerbaijan. The latter’s government, after losing war to Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Armenia, still seeks for revenge. Especially when the Aliyevs - Heydar Aliyev and later his son Ilham - took over the power, the falsified image of the conflict with Armenia was immediately spread abroad by a well-funded pro-Azerbaijani lobby. This is what all the Embassies of Azerbaijan do, including the one in Lithuania. Of course, the diplomatic activity of Azerbaijan is legal, as well as the efforts of their lobbyists to influence the Lithuanian society’s opinion. However, while reading the Azerbaijani approach retransmitted by these lobbyists one can notice both the primitiveness of arguments denying the committed genocide and justifying the possible oncoming one.

Without questioning the morality of Azerbaijani lobbyists, here I briefly introduce their most common arguments.

Firstly, they commonly refer that Azerbaijanis are victims of a four-staged genocide, organized by Armenians in 1905-1906, 1918-1920, 1947-1952, 1988-1994. Azerbaijani propagandist in Lithuania Imantas Melian has published an article The Genocide of the Azerbaijani People 1905-1994 in the publication Genocide and Resistance. The article is mainly based on a book "Преступления армянских террористических и бандитских формирований против человечества (XIX-XXI векa)" (Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Armenian Terrorist and Bandit Groups (XIX-XXI Centuries)). Thus, the lobbyists often claim that Armenians have committed a crime against humanity, hence, in order to defend itself, they (Azerbaijanis should destroy the nation (the Armenians), or at least humanity should quietly support the destruction.

Secondly, they claim, that the fact of Armenian genocide and the massive annihilation of other Christian nations in Turkey is falsificated and spread by Armenians. They were committing massacres against the Turks, thus the Turkish authorities were forced to deport Armenians, some of whom were somehow killed․Although almost all the countries in the world, including Lithuania, recognized the Armenian Genocide, a journalist Gintaras Visockas in his book Black Garden Tragedy, published in Vilnius, 2016, wrote: “If Turks have to apologize to Armenians, then Armenians should definitely apologize to Turks… As there were about a million of Armenians killed, while twice as much of Turks”. Thus, it cannot be called a genocide, since the term itself was coined only in 1944. Could it be the reason not to call it Genocide?

The third argument is the denial of the fact that the territories of current Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic belong to Armenians. Azerbaijanis claim that they lived there before the accession to the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century. Only the rule of Russian tsars in the 19th century transferred Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, it should be returned to Azerbaijan…There is no room for Armenians in their homeland.

The fourth argument is the denial of the existence of Armenian nation, although it is widely known that Armenians not only existed BC, but also already had a state. Azerbaijanis claim that Armenians are an ‘artificial derivative’ of Turkish nations, even Gypsies, who are very hostile towards all of their neighbors, especially the Jewish. Lithuanian-Azerbaijani Association tried to prove this approach in a book "Марши смерти: Преступления армянства против еврейского народа" ("The Death Ride: Crimes Committed by Armenians Against the Jewish People”) published in Baku, 2008. Hence, they claim that Armenians are not a nation, they do not have their territory, consequently, the annihilation of Armenians cannot be reprehensible? It is not this kind of propaganda that vexes, but the spirit that is being cultivated in Azerbaijani society and especially among the young generation.

And fifth, Azerbaijani diplomats in foreign countries use services of local lobbyists to prevent from supporting or contacting with Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). In Lithuania, members of Parliamentary Group for Friendship with Nagorno-Karabakh had been constantly attacked in public. The aforementioned Mr. Visockas was not the only one who has accused the group members of having a pro-Russian approach and being hostile to a NATO member Turkey. Other Lithuanian lobbyists in Azerbaijan accused Armenia of maintaining good relations with Iran. However, Iran did not commit Armenian genocide in Iran, moreover, Armenian community has freedom of religion and of cultural _expression_ in this country”.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/969499.html?fbclid=IwAR2UviNYrIUH3aXJAoqecDa62E07qgJJfKj4rnyRr4wrCaXkEDqh1j22Iag

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Aravot, Armenia

Feb 25 2020

‘Azerbaijan is using fake photos that have nothing to do with what happened in Khojaly’: Anzhela Elibegova

February 25,2020 21:50 25

On the eve of the 28th anniversary of the events in Khojaly, Azeri affairs expert Anzhela Elibegova emphasized at the Zarkerak press club was one of the towns used to bombard Stepanakert. It was clear to Azerbaijan that the town needed to be neutralized, but they deliberately did not warn the citizens so that it could continue to play the role of the protector and continue firing upon Armenians. It is notable that, during this time, people who had nothing to do with Azerbaijan began to live in Khojaly, which is why the number of residents had greatly increased.

According to Elibegova, the Azeri side is using this as propaganda to try and prove that the Armenian side carried this out. They are trying to convince people that Armenia committed genocide, but the Armenian side is working on revealing the fallacies contained in Azeri propaganda films and websites. “Lots of people were saved when the city was turned over to the Armenians. Around 700 civil residents of Khojaly were able to safely move to Azerbaijan thanks to the Armenians. Due to the blockade in Stepanakert, there was a food shortage, and there was no way for these people to live there,” the expert said.

Elibegova also said that it was not only one group that was saved by the Armenians. “It’s interesting that the other part went to Aghdam via the evacuation corridor opened by the Armenians. Aghdam was under Azeri control. The civilians did not reach Aghdam because the Azeris made an announcement that caused them to panic. This is when the gunfire began, and that’s when those people were killed.”

Regarding the distortion of facts, Elibegova noted that the Azeri journalist photographed the dead bodies on the 28th and in the days following. It became clear from those photos that the people had been tortured and their bodies were defiled in order to blame the Armenians. “Azerbaijan has falsified lists of dead people many times by writing the same names multiple times or by including the names of people who have nothing to do with Azeris. They did this in the hope that Armenians would not check these lists. Azerbaijan is using fake photos that have nothing to do with what happened in Khojaly.”

Nona Ghazaryan

To find out more about what happened in Khojaly, check out this brochure. [ http://xocali.tv/xocalinet/wp-content/uploads/Xocali-ARM.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0fCakldavOkShLt5_A8g9VxOf1JT6tla9XgM1WsbJev2uZiIeocKT7LMM ]

 

https://www.aravot-en.am/2020/02/25/250895/