BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 20
Trend:
I say with full confidence that a maximum of 65,000 people lived in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the occupied territories, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said addressing the nation, Trend reports.
“As for yet another fabrication made by Armenia today, I want to clarify that as well. It is claimed that 90,000 Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh and became refugees. It is a lie. A maximum of 60,000-65,000 people lived in Nagorno-Karabakh and our occupied lands before the Second Karabakh War. Where did we learn that? We have operational information. We have many sources of information in that region, and this is one of the reasons for our success. We knew exactly and we know what is happening there now, where the head of their junta is hiding. He was probably aware too that we knew that. This is why he couldn't take his nose out and sat in the bunker. We have objective information, we have sources, we have satellite images," said the president.
"Therefore, I say with full confidence that a maximum of 65,000 people lived in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the occupied territories. So where did 90,000 refugees come from? Another lie, another fraud. Now they will cling to others, asking and begging for help. “Help me” is the core principle of their ideology. What nation can develop with this ideology? Who has ever benefited from expecting and begging, and then taking offence and putting forward demands?” Azerbaijani president said.
“We will expose these lies about the number of refugees, and even if there were refugees, it is not our fault. We did not fight against the civilian population. They are the ones who fought against our civilian population. We have 94 martyrs among civilians and more than 400 wounded civilians. More than 3,000 houses have been destroyed. Their losses among civilians are much lower. However, they targeted our civilians in cities and villages. Ganja was hit by ballistic missiles. They hit Barda with cluster bombs, with phosphorus bombs. This is a war crime. The city of Tartar is almost destroyed. The largest number of shells fell on Tartar. Every morning, I was told how many shells landed there,” the head of state said.