Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26
Trend:
Those who committed the Khojaly genocide ruled Armenia for years, Azerbaijani President’s Assistant for Public and Political Affairs, Professor Ali Hasanov said in an interview with Turkey's Anadolu Agency on the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Trend reports.
“On the night of Feb. 25-26, Armenians, with the support of Soviet tanks and the 366th motor rifle regiment of the former Soviet Union, launched an offensive on the town of Khojaly,” he said. “In one night Khojaly was wiped off the map, 613 people were brutally killed, including children and old people. Hundreds of residents were taken hostage. The fate of more than 150 of them is still unknown. The Armenians committed a terrible genocide in the town where the civilian population lived. Those who perpetrated the Khojaly genocide subsequently ruled Armenia for years by holding posts of prime minister and president. Even the former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, strongly justifying the Khojaly genocide, recognized all committed that night.”
Hasanov stressed that the Khojaly tragedy committed 27 years ago is one of the genocides committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis over the past 200 years. Ali Hasanov noted that the main reason for this is the policy of ethnic cleansing pursued by Armenians to consolidate in the Caucasus. He said that the Armenians have implemented this policy with the support of their patrons.
“Historical facts show that the Azerbaijanis were constantly subjected to the policy of ethnic cleansing, genocide and aggression pursued by Armenian nationalists, were expelled from their historical lands, became refugees and IDPs,” he added. “Armenians living by a dream of “Greater Armenia” to achieve their goals in different times committed genocides with the help of foreign patrons. Only in the 20th century Azerbaijanis were subjected to genocide and ethnic cleansing four times - in 1905-1906, 1918-1920, 1948-1953 and 1988-1993. In 1915-1918, Armenians committed in Baku, Guba and other Azerbaijani districts massacres even bloodier than the Khojaly genocide, and their death tolls were bigger.”
He said that at that time Armenians killed about 20,000 people in Baku. Later, in 1948-1953, the Soviet Union deported 150,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia, he noted. Thus, a big step was taken in Armenia towards the achievement of goals related to the expulsion of every single Turkic and Muslim people, he added.
Ali Hasanov said that from 1988 until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenians openly put forward land claims against Azerbaijanis. He stressed that as a result of the occupation policy in 1988-1994, the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the surrounding areas were subjected to continuous attacks.
Ali Hasanov added that as a result of the occupation, more than a million Azerbaijanis became IDPs, the settlements were wiped off the map and mass genocides committed. He noted that the Khojaly genocide is the bloodiest tragedy among them.