March 15, 2001, The Turkish Times



The Ethnic Cleansing of Azeris in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Occupied Azerbajjan Territories

Newsweek
November 29, 1993

Armenians occupy a quarter of Azerbaijan’s territory, and they’ve displaced almost a million Azerbaijani civilians. Friends of Armenia’s powerful lobby in Washington, including the U.S. Government are suddenly a bit aghast. ‘What we see now is a systematic destruction of every village in their way’ says a senior state department official. It’s vandalism...

For the past seven months Armenian troops and tanks have swept
across Azerbaijan — a land grab exceeded only by what the Serbs
have accomplished in Bosnia in the past year... Last month they
pushed south all the way to the Iranian border, driving more
than 60,000 Azerbaijani civilians across the Araks river into
Iran -- and looting and torching vacant villages in their wake.


The Guardian,
2 September 1993

Nowhere To Hide For Azeri Refugees

Armenia is pushing a new wave of displaced people towards Iran.

Jonathan RUGMAN in Kanliq, south-west Azerbaijan, reports

On the main road south through Kubatli province, thousands of men, women and children are packed into trucks at an Azeri checkpoint waiting for permission to leave. Helicopters shuttle in and out with the wounded, while a group of women sit wailing at the roadside, tearing at their bloodstained faces with their fingernails in a frenzy of grief.

A new exodus of refugees is under way towards Azerbaijan’s border with Iran as Armenia forces continue ignoring United Nations demands that they stop their offensive.

This week the UNHCR began distributing 4,000 tents and 50,000 blankets to those displaced in the recent hostilities. The organisation said about 250,000 Azeris have been displaced so far this year and about 1 million since the massacre began in 1988.



The Sunday Times,
March 1,1992

By Thomas Goltz, Agdam,
Azerbaijan

Armenian Soldiers Massacre
Hundreds Of Fleeing
Families

Survivors reported that Armenian soldiers shot and bayoneted more than 450 Azeris, many of them women and children. Hundreds, possibly thousands, were missing and feared dead.

The attackers killed most of the soldiers and volunteers defending the women and children. They then turned their guns on the terrified refugees. The few survivors later described what happened: ‘That’s when the real slaughter began,’ said Azer Hajiev, one of three soldiers to survive. ‘The Armenians just shot and shot. And then they came in and started carving up people with their bayonets and knives.’

‘They were shooting, shooting, shooting,’ echoed Rasia Aslanova, who arrived in Agdam with other women and children who made their way through Armenian lines. She said her husband, Kayun, and a son-in-law were massacred in front of her. Her daughter was still missing.

One boy who arrived in Agdam had an ear sliced off.

The survivors said 2000 others, some of whom had fled separately, were still missing in the gruelling terrain; many could perish from their wounds or the cold.

By late yesterday, 479 deaths had been registered at the morgue in Agdam’s morgue, and 29 bodies had been buried in the cemetery. Of the seven corpses I saw awaiting burial, two were children and three were women, one shot through the chest at point blank range.

Agdam hospital was a scene of carnage and terror. Doctors said they had 140 patients who escaped slaughter, most with bullet injuries or deep stab wounds.

Nor were they safe in Agdam. On Friday night rockets fell on the city which has a population of 150,000, destroying several buildings and killing one person.



BBC1 Morning News
3 March 1992

BBC reporter was live on line and he claimed that he saw more than 100 bodies of Azeri men, women and children as well as a baby who are shot dead from their heads from a very short distance.


Channel 4 News 2 March 1992

2 French journalists have seen 32 corpses of men, women and children in civilian clothes. Many of them shot dead from their heads as close as less than 1 meter.




The Times, 2 March 1992

Corpses Litter Hills In Karabakh

(Anatol Lieven Comes Under
Fire While Flying To Investigate
The Mass Killings Of Refugees By
Armenian Troops)

As we swooped low over the snow-covered hills of Nagorno-Karabagh we saw the scattered corpses. Apparently, the refugees had been shot down as they ran. An Azerbaijani film of the places we flew over, shown to journalists afterwards, showed DOZENS OF CORPSES lying in various parts of the hills.

The Azerbaijanis claim that AS MANY AS 1000 have died in a MASS KILLING of AZERBAIJANIS fleeing from the town of Khodjaly, seized by Armenians last week. A further 4,000 are believed to be wounded, frozen to death or missing.

The civilian helicopter’s job was to land in the mountains and pick up bodies at sites of the mass killings.

The civilian helicopter picked up four corpses, and it was during this and a previous mission that an Azerbaijani cameraman filmed the several dozen bodies on the hillsides.

Back at the airfield in Agdam, we took a look at the bodies the civilian helicopter had picked up. Two old men a small girl were covered with blood, their limbs contorted by the cold and rigor mortis. They had been shot.




Boston Sunday Globe
21 November1993

by Jon Auerbach
Globe Correspondent

CHAKHARLI, Azerbaijan—The truckloads of scared and lost chilthen, the sobbing mothers, the stench of sickness and the sea of blank faces in this mud-covered refugee camp obscure the deeper issue of why tens of thousands of Azeris have fled here.

What we see now is a systematic destruction of every village in their way, said one senior US official. It’s one of the most disgusting things we’ve seen.

It’s vandalism, the US official said. The idea that there is an aggressive intent in a sound conclusion.

The United Nations estimates that thre are more than 1 million refugees in Azerbaijan, roughly one seventh of the former Soviet republic’s entire population. Thousands who fled to neighboring Iran are being slowly repatriated to refugee camps already bursting at the seams. But because of the Karabakh Armenians’ policy of burning villages, relief organizations say there is no hope that the Azeris could return home anytime soon.

At Chakharli, about 10 miles from Iran, more than 10,000 refugees are crammed into a makeshift tent city. Aziz Azizova, 33, arrived in the Iranian run camp about three weeks ago, after she and her five children were forced to flee their home in the village of Buik-Merjan.

I left my village with nothing, not even my shoes, she said. You see how our children are living? Some of them are living right in the mud.

Azizova, like thousands of others, escaped by fleeing across the Arax River into neighboring Iran. The UN estimates that around 300 Azeris, mainly women and children, drowned in the river’s currents.

One of the people who did make it across was Samaz Mamedova, a 40-year-old accountant. Sitting with friends in tent No. 566 on a recent day, Mamedova explained how the Armenians seized her village in less than a half hour, forcing the entire population toward the river in a chaotic scramble for survival.




The Age, Melbourne 6 March 1992

By Helen WOMACK -
Agdam, Azerbaijan, Thursday

The exact number of victims is still unclear, but there can be little doubt that Azeri civilians were massacred by the Armenian Army in the snowy mountains of NagornoKârabakh last week.

Refugees from the enclave town of Khojaly, sheltering in the Azeri border town of Agdam, give largely consistent accounts of how Armenians attacked their homes on the night of 25 February, chased those who fled and shot them in the surrounding forests. Yesterday, I saw 75 freshly dug graves in one cemetery in addition to four mutilated corpses we were shown in the mosque when we arrived in Agdam late on Tuesday. I also saw women and children with bullet wounds in a makeshift hospital in a string of railway carriages.

Khojaly, an Azeri settlement in the enclave mostly populated by Armenians, had a population of about 6000. Mr. Rashid Mamedov, Commander of Police in Agdam, said only about 500 escaped to his town. So where are the rest? Some might have been taken prisoner, he said, or fled. Many bodies were still lying in the mountains because the Azeris were short of helicopters to retrieve them. He believed more than 1000 had perished, some of cold in temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees.

When Azeris saw the Armenians with a convoy of armored personnel carriers, they realised they could not hope to defend themselves, and fled into the forests. In the small hours, the massacre started.

Mr. Nasiru, who believes his wife and two children were taken prisoner, repeated what many other refugees have said - that troops of the former Soviet army helped the Armenians to attack Khojaly. It is not my opinion, I saw it with my own eyes.


The Washington Post 28 February 1992

Nagorno-Karabagh Victims Buried in Azerbajjani Town

“Refugees claim hundreds died in Armenian Attack...Of seven bodies seen here today, two were children and three were women, one shot through the chest at what appeared to be close range. Another 120 refugees being treated at Agdam’s hospital include many with multiple stab wounds.”



The Washington Times
3 March 1992

Massacre Reports Horrify Azerbajjan

“Azeri officials who returned fn the scene to this town about nine miles away brought back three dead children, the backsof their heads blown off ..‘Women and children had been scalped,’ said Assad Faradzev, an aide to Karabagh’s Azeri governor. Azeri television showed pictures of one truckload of bodies brought to the Azeri town of Agdam, some with their faces apparently scratched with knives or their eyes gouged out.”

 

The New York Times, June 9, 1994




To the Editor:

“Azerbaijan, Potentially Rich, Is Impoverished by Warfare” (front page, June 2) unfortunately perpetuates a myth central to the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia regarding Nagorno-Karabakh: “In 1923 Stalin made the region of Nagorno-Karabakh part of Azerbaijan, despite the fact that most of its population was Armenian.” This is not true.

While the majority of Nagorno-Karabakh’s inhabitants have been ethnic Armenians — at least since the end of the last Russian-Persian War in 1828 — the territory has been part of Azerbaijan for hundreds of years. It remained part of Azerbaijan after each Russian-Persian War in the 18th and 19th centurIes. It remained so during the 1918 British occupation, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 (at which the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh signed an agreement accepting Azeri jurisdictIon) and when the two nations became Soviet Republics in 1920.

What Stalin did in the 1920’s was refuse Armenian requests to transfer Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan to Armenia, not the same as giving Armenian territory to Azerbaijan because Nagorno-Karabakh was never part of Armenia. A United States Committee for Refugees report notes that Stalin “retained the lines of the map that separated Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia” and “appeared to want to maintain the territorial status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is extremely complicated, epitomizing the contradiction between two principles of international law: self-determination and territorial integrity. However, it is indisputable that Armenia has violated the prohibition of the United Nations Charter against “the use of force -against the territorial integrity... of any state,” for which the Security Council has condemned Armenia numerous times. 

WILLIAM H. SCHAAP
Managing Director
Institute for Media Analysis New York, June 2, 1994

"The Armenian republic of Dashnaks [during its formation in 1918] had received from Allies the Kars district, the parts of the Erivan guberniia (province) taken away in 1918. So, the territory of Armenia made up approximately 17,500 English square miles with population of 1,510,000 people (795,000 Armenians, 575,000 Moslems [Azerbaijanis], 140,000 of other nationalities). Dashnaks not being satisfied with it laid claims to the Akhalkalak and Borchaly territories (parts of Georgia), and to Karabakh, Naxcivan districts and to the southern part of great Elisavetpol guberniia (parts of Azerbaijan). The attempts of annexing these territories by force (in the period of the British occupation of Transcaucasus) led to the war with Georgia (December, 1918) and long bloody struggle with Azerbaijan resulted in reduction of contested regions' population by 10-30%, and a number of settlements were literally wiped off the face of the earth. The fight was extremely fierce in Karabakh where the Dashnaks settled down firmly. Only downfall of the Musavat Party and Sovietization of Baku (27 April 1920) saved the Karabakh Armenians from complete defeat."

"Being proposed (July 1920) to accept Karabakh, Naxcivan and other areas [of Azerbaijan] loyal to Soviet power, the Yerevan government agreed to start guerilla actions on the mentioned above territories issuing confidential order to their Dashnak war leaders. These actions started in September 1920. At the same time Dashnaks having received weapons from Britain, organized pogroms of Moslem [mainly Azerbaijani] population in the whole of Kars province and Erevan district reducing Shuragel, Sharur-Daralagez, Kaguzman, Surmanly, Karagurta, Sary Kamysh regions to ashes. Having secured such a rear they attacked Olta and Kaguzman acquiring the support of Makin Sardar."

Great Soviet Encyclopedia (GSE), "Armenian Question" First Edition, Volume Three (ANRIO-ATOKCIL), Moscow, 1926. GSE was the most authoritative and comprehensive Soviet encyclopedia, an equivalent of of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

zerbaijan.com

Holdwater: Compare above 1918 population statistics with Armenia's 2001 census, as determined from the CIA Factbook: 97.9% Armenian, 1.3% Kurd, 0.5% Russian, 0.3% Other.

The Soviet-Armenian historian, Lalaian, presented his set of numbers, as well.

DID ARMENIA ADMIT HER CRIMES?

On August 31, 1918, for the first and last time the Armenian government itself has declared that only in one year Armenians killed 400 thousand Azerbaijanis, 120 thousand Georgians, 15 thousand Turks and others. In spite of the fact that government of Armenia has reduced the statistical data, this is enough proof of the Armenian terror. (From: Rovshan Mustafayev, "Crimes of Armenian terrorist and bandit formations against the humanity [XIX-XXI centuries]", Baku, 2002. In Russian, English and French).

 

A Guestbook Writer Offers Concise Historical Pointers:

From: Trojan
Date: 10/18/99



Comments
You guys have absolutely no clue about the history of the region. What you say is what you read in the articles of the same kind of "history-lovers". You guys have never studied in the world archives, you have never used specific historical methodologies and techniques, and you simply don't know the subject. Believe me. All you are arguing for is what you would like it to be, but not what is in reality. History is an exact subject. It always leaves evidences, which are... guess what? yes, Historical sources.

I will just brief you some facts that are indisputable and are the HISTORY.

- Armenians have not lived in Transcaucasia for the centuries. It is a myth. The first massive Armenian immigration to the Erivan, Nakhichevan and Karabakh Khanates started in 1828 and it was encouraged by the Russian Tsarist government. The Russian Ambassador to Iran, Alexander Griboedov, had described the resettlement of the Iranian Armenians in the above mentioned lands in his memoirs. Even after the first massive arrival of the Armenians to Transcaucasia, the original Muslem population (mainly Azeris) remained the majority in Erivan, Karabakh and Nakhichevan.

- There still exists the monument in Nagorno Karabakh which comemorates the arrival of the first immigrants to Nagorno Karabakh. It was erected in 1978 in Leninavan (Mardakert region of Nagorno Karabakh) to mark the 150th anniversary of the Armenian immigration. Until recently, there was a script on the monument, but after the outbreak of the conflict, Armenians had erased the script.

- All pre-1828 Christian buildings in Nagorno Karabakh are Albanian (don't confuse the Caucasian Albanians with the European Albanians). Albanians were the only indigineous population of Nagorno Karabakh, and they were assimilated into the Azeri ethnos in the Middle Ages, long before the Armenian immigration. Therefore, only the modern Azeris can be considered to be the descendants of the Caucasian Albanians (the fact accepted by the world historical scholarship).

- Only after the Crimean War, 1853-55, when the second massive immigration of the Armenians from Turkey took place, did the Armenians outnumber the Azeris in Transcaucasia. The purpose of Russia's promotion of the Armenian immigration was to create a Christian province in the South which was to serve as a stronghold for further Russian penetration of Iran and the Ottoman Empire.

- Armenian immigration continued in the 1890s after the disastorous rebellion of the Armenians in Anatolia in 1894-95.

- There was no so-called "Armenian genocide" in 1915. The Ottoman government ordered the resettlement (even not the deportation, since it was the resettlement within the same country) of the Armenian population from Eastern Anatolia to Syria because they started massacres of the Turks and Kurds on the eve of the Russian advance. Armenians in all 6 villayets were in minority. The goal of the Dashnaktsutsiun leaders was to provoke unrest in Anatolia, cause sympathy of the Entente and to acquire a statehood after the defeat of Turkey. More than 2.5 million Turks and Kurds were killed by the Armenian rebels in 1914-18, while around 600.000 Armenians suffered during the resettlement. "Genocide" is the state policy of extermination of the nation. There was obviously no such a policy adopted by the Ottoman government in 1915, and what it ordered was the reaction to the Armenian violence towards Turkish and Kurdish civilians.

- Stalin never "granted" Karabakh to Azerbaijan. In 1921, the decision was made to "leave" Karabakh within, and not to "transfer" to, Azerbaijan. If you look at the Protocol of the Kavbuero Meeting of 5th July, 1921, (every historian nowadays can order the document from the former Party Archive in Moscow) you will read exactly the word "leave". So, when you "leave" something somewhere, it obviously implies that it was there before. Masterly manipulating with the words, Armenians pursue the aim to justify their territorial claims to Azerbaijan. In addition, in 1921 Stalin did not have enough power to "grant" territories or to take such kind of important decisions. He was an ordinary minister (narkom), and his power was very limited. Contemporary advocates of the Armenian Cause use Stalin's name, known for his brutal dictatorship, to justify their territorial intentions.

- More than 400 geographical names in modern Armenia were renamed from Turkic to Armenian.

- The first violence in the 1980s took place in late 1987, when the Armenians expelled 4.000 Azeris from Kafan, Masis and Goris. Azeri refugees were the first in the conflict. They were sent to Sumgait, where only 3 months later the tragedy broke out. It is the undisputable fact that two ethnic Armenians (Grigorian and Oganov) were arrested in Sumgait for killing at least 6 Armenians. Armenians are responsible for the first violence in the conflict, which is the expulsion of the Azeris in 1987.

- The first vicitms in the conflict were Azeris - two guys killed by Armenians few days before the Sumgait tragedy in Askeran.

- No single bullet had fallen on the Armenian soil since the beginning of the conflict. The war took place only on the territory of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is the victim, Armenia is the aggressor.

These are only few facts. :)

Vatan Society
Press Release May 3, 2003



Britain has become the first European state to officially and publicly acknowledge and commemorate victims of the 1992 massacre at Khodjaly.  Some 800 Azerbaijani civilians were murdered when Armenian forces overran the Azeri- populated town of Khodjaly in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a letter to Vatan Society of 16 April, Britain's Foreign and
Commonwealth Office stated the following: What happened at Khodjaly stands out as an appalling tragedy in a list of many that occurred during the course of the war. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and our assurance that their suffering will not be forgotten.

The Foreign Office stressed that UK is deeply aware of the horrific incidents that took place during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and of the terrible human cost to both sides . The statement came in response to Vatan Society's Khodjaly Appeal issued on February 26, 2003 with the aim of raising the profile and seeking public acknowledgement for the tragic events in Karabagh 11 years ago, as well as to commemorate all civilian
victims of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

The Foreign Office letter stated:

We understand the strength of feeling about the terrible events that occurred and know that the suffering continues for the families of those who died and for the many thousands of people displaced from their homes The UK will continue to work for peace, security and mutual understanding in the region.

The statement also reiterated Britain s support of the OSCE Minsk Group's efforts to settle the Karabagh dispute. UK called on the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia to look to the future and build a better relationship between their countries, to ensure that such atrocities never happen again.

Vatan Society welcomes the Foreign Office statement as an important step towards a responsible and unbiased international public debate on the Karabagh conflict, necessary if a peaceful and just settlement to the dispute is to be found.

 

Hmmmm... five of the sisters, some now adult women, have been "detained." Could there be Armenian "harems"?

The above newspaper accounts were compiled by an Azerbaijani organization called "Society for Democratic Reforms." A letter by Razi Nurullayev and Ogtay Gulaliyev included the information in a letter addressed to the Turkish Parliament, in the hopes of that governmental body recognizing the Khodjaly massacres as a genocide, pleading "This may be a great step in the way of recognition of the historic facts and making public the Armenian atrocity and brutality." A little over a year after the writing of this letter, at least Great Britain paid attention to this outrageous crime against humanity. (Do you think the French Parliament and U.S. Congress will be in a hurry to create a resolution, recognizing the Khodjaly massacres? Du-uuu-uhhhh.... the last paragraph is a telling one. This incident is cut and dried, whereas the "Armenian Genocide" is hotly debated. This incident is from modern times, whereas the "Armenian Genocide" is nearly a century old. Wha$$ goin' on?)

Here's the rest of what the letter had to say:

As known, the brutal holocaust was perpetrated by Armenian troops and Russia's 366 infantry regiment based in Khankandi, capital city of Upper Karabakh. Over 30 tanks and Armored Personnel Carriers were involved in the unequal battle with defenseless and unarmed population. They had been subjected to unseen torture in the world history.

In the said regiment 103 Armenian national armed from foot to head have participated in the massacre and later on in the investigation they have acknowledged it. We quote official statement: "Moral degradation of the officers of regiment No 366 reached such a level that infantry guards regiment failed to implement itself withdrawal of troops allegedly because of interference of local residents. Forces of landing division located in Ganja city was involved in implementation of this operation. However, before commandos arrived, 103 people of personnel of the regiment, who were mainly Armenians clearly admitting their (guilt) in the outrage refused to obey the order and remained in Karabakh. According to criminal agreement of the high command of the regiment and because of inactivity of other higher commanders who were responsible for troops withdrawal, part of arms of regiment including armored equipment was transferred to Armenians, factually, to commit the further crimes, to continue separatist actions against Azerbaijan. This is clear fact of participation of the regiment No 366 in implementation of Khojali tragedy!"

2500 inhabitants of Khojaly left behind out of a population of 7 thousand people suffered from this unseen terror act. The gruesome statistics indicates that 613 people had been killed, of which 106 were women and 83 children; 1275 taken hostage, 150 went missing; 487 people became disabled and invalid, 76 of whom are teenage boys and girls; 8 families had been completely destroyed; 25 children had lost both of their parents, 130 children had lost one of their parents; and 56 people had been killed with extreme cruelty and torture. Sharing the fate of its population, the town of Khojaly had been completely destroyed as well....

The damage done to both state and private property estimated 5 billion rubles (according to the prices for 01.04.92)

This tragedy has been widely covered called genocide in the world press. Actions of Armenians and their accomplices participated in Khojali tragedy are rough violation of human rights, cynical neglect of international legal acts - Geneva convention, Universal declaration of human rights, International pact on civil and political rights, International pact on economic, social and cultural rights, Declaration on child rights, Declaration on protection of women and children in emergency and during armed conflicts and other facts of international law.

Dear Assembly Members!

It is very pity that the Khojaly Genocide has not given true legal and political estimations by world countries and international organizations. On the contrary some Parliaments of separate countries give a new birth to 80 years old so-called Armenian genocide of 1915 by Ottoman Empire ignoring the very new Genocide of late XX century committed against Azerbaijani people by Armenians. This should be considered as falsifications and distortion of the historic facts. Society for Democratic Reforms considers that The Republic of Turkey being fully aware of the said genocide should express official and political position in the Parliament to open a way to other countries to know the bare truth and tell it.

Holdwater: I don't know about that. I look at the definition as how it's perceived by most, in terms of what the Nazis did to the Jews. The broadly based 1948 U.N. Convention does allow for an extermination attempt "in whole or in part," but I mostly reject arguments where "numbers don't matter," and where even one person's death can be called a "genocide." What I look for is "intent."

Did the orders to wipe out the Azeri civilians come from the top? That is a critical distinction. For example, during the World War I era, Armenian revolutionaries were wiping out Turks wherever they could, and were generally acting in a genocidal fashion... as there was no official state behind them (before 1918, when Armenia was established), their actions could be construed as genocide. (The leaders must have been aware of their men's slaughtering methods, since the slaughtering pattern kept continuing for years... much more likely, the leaders must have set down these exterminating methods as policy.)

Realistically, we all know if the latter day Armenian soldiers were let loose upon further undefended Azeri towns, they would have behaved no less abominably, so it could be argued Khodjaly was part of a pattern of genocide, as well. However, now the Armenians were directed by their own state. Then the question becomes, did these mad dogs act on their own accord, or upon the instructions of their government? That's important, because genocide cannot be applied upon "loose cannon" troops committing massacres on their own ... otherwise, the USA could be accused of committing a "genocide," based on the incident of berserk American soldiers at My Lai ... which would be ridiculous. (The film documentary FAHRENHEIT 9/11 claims the USA polished off 4 million southeast Asians during that period. If that's a true statistic, then one might wonder otherwise.)

One has to be very careful with the application of the word genocide, especially since it has now become one of the most misused words around. Bernard Lewis reminds us of how easily "genocide" is thrown around these days, and tells us why the Ottoman Turks were not guilty of this high crime. There is much more to add to what he briefly sums up, but another important point to keep in mind is that the massacres committed upon the Armenians mostly occurred at the hands of their revengeful Moslem neighbors, reacting to what the Armenians had done to their families. Some of the irregular gendarmes and corrupt local officials also committed crimes, but here's the difference: some of these Turks soldiers were punished DURING THE WAR, twenty by EXECUTION. Moreover, the more professionally-behaving soldiers assigned to protect the Armenians DEFENDED the Armenians, and quite a few LOST THEIR LIVES by doing so. These actions totally turn the possibility that there was a government sponsored extermination policy on its ear... added to the fact that no hard and reliable evidence has ever been found, tying the Ottoman government to ordering genocide.

By contrast, you can bet any bottom dollar no Armenian soldiers during and right after World War I died, defending the lives of defenseless Turkish villagers... and it sure doesn't sound like any modern Armenian soldier lifted a bloody finger to help the defenseless Azeri villagers of Khodjali. Certainly not at the price of their lives.

Let's face it: this has been the Orthodox recipe for conquest since the Russians tweaked the method into perfection, with their conquests of Ottoman lands. Go off to purposely slaughter, scaring away the rest of the citizenry from their homes. The Armenians have become experts at this methodology since WWI, and the fruits of their labors from recent times are well in evidence; nearly a million Azeris are still refugees from their own homeland, much to the apathy of the hypocritical West.

 

 

 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH \ HELSINKI


MARCH 2, 1994
PRESIDENT LEVON TER-PETROSSIAN
MARSHAL BAGRAMIAN PROSPECT,26
375019 YEREVAN
BY FAX:52-15-81

DEAR PRESIDENT TER-PETROSSIAN,

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH\HELSINKI (Formerly Helsinki Watch) is the largest human rights organisation in the United States. We have
closely followed the Armenian massacre of the Azeri people in
Nagorno Karabakh, and have published two reports on violations
of the Geneva Conventions.

I am writing you to express our organisation's deep concern
about the deaths of Azerbaijani prisoners of war in Armenia.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the
following men were shot to death in an Armenian detention camp
in Sritak in late January or early February:

Rustam Ramazan-oglu Agaev, (b. ?), from Masalin District
Elman Mamed-oglu Akhmedov, b. 1961,from Yevlakh District
Elshan Hussein-oglu Akhmedov, b.1974, from Saatlin District
Bakhram AKIF-oglu Giiasov, b. 1972,from Siazan
FAIG Gabil-oglu Guliev, b.1969,from Baku
Enver Asker-oglu Jafarov, b.1972,from Sumgait
Eldar Shahbaba-oglu Mamedov, b.1966,from Baku
Girshad Kniaz-oglu Mamedov, b.1974 from Yevlakh

I thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward
to learning the results of the investigation.

Yours sincerely,
Jeri Laber
Executive Director

TEL(212)972-8400,FAX(212)
972-0905,EMAIL;hrwatchnycigc.apc.org.
1522 K STREET,NW,H910,WASHINGTON,DC 20005-1202,TEL(202)371-6592,
FAX(202)371-0124,EMAIL,hrwatchdc igc apc.org
90 BOROUGH HIGH STREET,LONDON UK SE1 ILL,TEL(71)378-8008,FAX (71)
378-8029, EMAIL:hrwatchuk gn apc org
MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TEL and FAX(7095)265-4448

[reference]

(The information below is included strictly for reference purposes; not all claims should be accepted at face value.)

31 March has been marked as a day of genocide of the Azerbaijani population at government level since 1998. This calendar embraces the tragic events which took place in Azerbaijan history over past hundred years being in the memory of the people. Mass destruction of the Azerbaijanis undergone repression is one of the tragic pages of world history in the 20th century. The guilty of these tragedies is Armenian chauvinism reflecting all foul means for realization of a crazy idea - creation of "The Great Armenia".

The Armenian terrorists as being cruel and crafty executors of their repulsive policy committed genocide to the Azerbaijanis many times in the history. The genocide realized by the Armenians to the Azerbaijani population in 1918-1920 years which perpetually engraved in blood history of our people, not only is one of the most tragic-historical occurrences of Azerbaijan, but the whole world history. So that in March-April 1918 the Armenians committed murder of the Azerbaijanis (50 thousand people) in Baku, Shamakhi, Quba, Mugan and Lankaran and deported 10 thousands of people from their own lands. Approximately, 30 ths. Azerbaijani were killed severely in Baku city. 58 villages were ruined and 7 thousand people (1653 women, 965 childen) were destructed in Shamakhi. 122 villages in Quba, 150 in upland part of Karabakh, 115 in Zangezur, 211 in Yerevan and 92 villages in Kars province were destroyed completely and execution of the local population was realized by disregarding the age and sex. In one of repeated addresses ("Ashkhadavor''/"Amakchi" newspaper, 231, dated 2 November 1919) of Yerevan Azerbaijanis it was mentioned that in this historical city and surroundings 88 villages had been destructed, 1920 house burned and 131970 people killed.

For the first time these tragedies were politically evaluated by the initiative of Nationwide Leader of Azerbaijan Haydar Aliyev at the end of the 20th century.

Not only in 1918-1920 years, but still in 1905, 1915 and afterwards in 1948-1953 years the Azerbaijanis were exiled from their own ethnic-historical places, thousands of people were exposed to liquidation, hundreds and thousands of the Azerbaijanis' settlements were obliterated, historical-cultural wealth were ruined and misappropriated.

New stage of genocide to the Azerbaijanis started since the ends of 1980s. The Azerbaijanis more than 250 thousand were deported from 185 settlements of Armenia in 1988-1991 years.

As a result of occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 outside administrative regions (20% of the territory of Azerbaijan) by armed forces of Armenia, people more than 50 thousand were wounded and crippled. About one million refugees and IDPs are still living in other regions of the country.

As a result of military aggression citizens of Azerbaijan more than 5000, including 55 children, 326 women and the aged total 409 became missed.

In February 1992 another genocide so called Khojali genocide was committed by Armenian terrorists to the Azerbaijanis being uncommon in the history. During the occupation of Khojali region 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women, the aged total 70 were killed with especial cruelty and torture and hundreds of people were captivated and taken hostage as well as became missed.

In general as a consequence of the occupation of Azerbaijan territories, more than 900 settlements were plundered, burnt and destroyed, 6 thousand industrial and agricultural enterprises and other plants were demolished, 150 dwelling houses with gross floor area more than 9 mln. m2 were destructed, 4366 social infrastructure facilities and 695 medical units were ruined as well. Furthermore, 927 libraries, 464 historical monuments and museums, more than 100 archaeological monuments, 6 public theatres and concert studios were racked. More than 40 thousand valuables and rare exhibits were stolen from the plundered museums.

Till now the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions - 822, 853, 874 and 884 on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In spite of demands for withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from occupied regions of Azerbaijan Republic as envisaged by the resolutions, these demands have not been implemented yet.

Appeal by the "Khazar" International Scientific Research Center to US Congressmen, European Union, UN and world community over recognition of act of genocide committed by Armenians time after time against Azerbaijani people

Over the past two centuries thanks to the auspices of the Russian Empire the Azerbaijani people were repeatedly exposed to merciless aggressions, murders and plunders, in a genuine sense of the world, to the physical and moral genocide by Armenians. Yet at the first half of the 19th century by the treaties of Gulustan (1813) and Turkmanchay (1828) the deportation of Azeri Turks from our lands and the policy of "ethnic cleansing" began. As a result of public and underground struggle for realization of "great Armenia" figment, in 1905-1907 bloody actions against the Azeri Turks beginning from Baku up to the present Armenia spread all over the cities and countries. At that period thousands of Azeri Turks were murdered and hundreds of residential areas were destroyed and ruined. The world community should be familiarized with the following facts and realize the genuine truth: Genocide means to destroy the generation of a nation, race, a tribe and a clan. Late in the 19th century and early in the 20th century were the periods of the most terrible tortures, massacres, refugees and moral genocide in the Azeri Turks' lives in the territory that is called the present Armenia. The Armenian-Turkish conflicts and the anti-Turkish mood in 1894-1896 made their outcry in Azeri Turks' genocide during the Armenian-Moslem war in 1905. In 1914-1916 in the South of Azerbaijan - in Khoy, Salmas and Dilman regions 150 thousand; in Eastern Anatolia - in Kars, Sarigamish, Ardahan, Kaghizman and Erzurum regions 200 thousand Azeri Turks were killed. In 1917-1920 in Baku, Nakhchivan, Guba, Shamakhy and Ganja about 40 thousand Azeri Turks were exposed to genocide. In general, over 2,500,000 Azeri Turks succumbed to genocide. As a result of the deportation 1,350,000 Azeri Turks were driven out of their native lands. Hovanes Apresian, who was one of the most active participants of the genocide committed by the Armenian bandits in 1918-1920, made his confession on the bloody crime facts they committed in Iravan province, in Sharur-Dereleyez, Surmali, Kars, Sarigamish and the other regions and in his memoirs titled "There are such people", which was published by American Ramsden Hardill in the Indianapolis city of the United States in 1928, he stated how they had tortured the peaceful Azerbaijani population: "The war began against the Turks within a short period of time turned into the warfare for complete destruction of the Turks' generation." These atrocities committed against unarmed, innocent and peaceful Azeri Turks are the obvious confessions of existence of genocide. A German writer by surname Kulner, who was one of the witnesses of the Azeri Turks to have been exposed to genocide by Armenians, seven years later, in 1925 wrote: "Armenians were mainly encroaching the settlements inhabited by Moslems and killing everyone they came across. They were cutting the people with swords, piercing them with bayonets, burning the houses, throwing the children into the burning houses and watching them burning alive. They were putting the three-four-day babies on the tip of bayonets. A few days after the massacre 87 Moslem bodies were excavated out of one trench. Their ears and noses were cut off, their abdomens were pierced and sexual organs were sliced. Armenians were merciless both towards children and elderly people". A. A. Lalaian wrote: "The Dashnaksutyun Party within the period of 30 months (from May 28, 1918 till November 29, 1920) of its power destroyed 35% of Armenian and 60% of Turkish population in the Transcaucasus." English journalist Scotland Liddel, historian S. Suni, famous Richard Pipesin and the others, who were in Zangazur and Garabagh in 1919, mentioned the facts on the Turkish genocide in their works and these facts mentioned are, no doubt, familiar to the world community for ages. As a result of barbarism of General Andronik, the Commander of Armenian terrorist units, in 1918-1919 in Zangazur region 3,257 men, 2,276 women and 2,196 children were killed; 2,060 men, 794 women and 48 children were wounded. In the western region of Azerbaijan - in the territory of the present Armenia, at the beginning of the 20th century Azeri Turks used to live in 959 villages out of 1,301. However, at the end of the same century there were no Azeri Turks in those villages. At the beginning of the 20th century in the territory of present Armenia the number of Azeri Turks was more than 352,000. But today there is no Azeri Turk there. Under the enforcement of warmonger circles realizing brutally the program of "Armenia without Turks", in 1989-1994 a fictitious Upper Garabagh problem was put forward and 812,554 Azeri Turks were forcibly driven out of their native lands - motherland Azerbaijan. Every seventh person of the country's population became a refugee. The Armenian armed forces destructed and ruined 900 residential areas, 4,366 social objects, 690 schools, 280 nursery schools, 862 clubs, 982 libraries, 500 medical centers, 76 drug-stores, over 400,000 industrial and agricultural enterprises and hundreds of cultural monuments. Ten thousands of citizens of Azerbaijan were murdered and became disabled as well as were taken captives and hostages. The Khojaly tragedy, which has got no analogy in the 20th century, happened on February 26, 1992. The leading mass media and television channels in the world have covered this tragedy and brought this fact into the world community's notice. But unfortunately, these undeniable facts of genocide were not given a political and legal assessment in time. The lands of Azerbaijan were occupied and peaceful and innocent people were killed, but the world kept silence. Taking into account of all these terrors, tragedies and calamities, to which the Azerbaijani people were exposed, and in order not to enable Armenians, who have spread to different regions of the world, to commit genocide against any people under the slogan of "national fortune" and "great Armenia", we appeal to the parliaments of all states, peaceful forces, influential international organizations and call on everyone to confess the genocide of the Azeri Turks, to recognize the aggressor as it is and to give a political and legal assessment to the crimes committed.

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How have Armenian deceivers dealt with reports of their massacres, which had, for one brief window of historica time, the attention of the West? (In contrast to years past, when such large-scale crimes were conducted at will, with few Westerners present.) The Armenians claimed that it was the AZERIS who mutilated their own! Can this level of gall and shamelessness be believed??

Fortunately, there are rare times when this "Monolith of Victimhood" allows the truth to slip through (the following is described as having taken place in "Khojali." and I am assuming it is referring to the 1992 massacre; as the memoir also is relatively recent. It could be, however, that the episode may have been from the 1918 period.):

"When I and Khachatur entered the house, our soldiers had nailed a 13-year-old Turkish child to the window. He was making much noise so Khachatur put mother's cut breast into his mouth. I skinned his chest and belly. Seven minutes later the child died. As I used to be a doctor I was humanist and didn't consider myself happy for what I had done to a 13-year-old Turkish child. But my soul was proud for taking 1percent of vengeance of my nation. Then Khachatur cut the body into pieces and threw it to a dog of same origin with Turks. I did the same to three Turkish children in the evening. I did my duty as an Armenian patriot. Khachatur had sweated much. But I saw struggle of revenge and great humanism in his and other soldiers' eyes. The next day we went to the church to clear our souls from what done previous day. But we were able to clear Khojali from slops of 30 thousand people."

Zori Balayan, “Revival of Our Souls,” 1996 , pages 260-262; as excerpted by Baris Sanli, "Russian Finger Inside Capitol Hill : Armenian Lobby?" (Ocrober 17, 2007.) His outraged comment: "A nation proud of a massacre is joyfully dropping a note to the history!"