BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 29. The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson) of the Republic of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva has released a statement on March 31 - the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, Trend reports.
"Throughout history, our compatriots have been repeatedly subjected to targeted ethnic cleansing, genocide, and deportations by Armenia.
One of the most terrible events of genocide committed against our people occurred in March-April 1918, and this bloody event is inscribed in the history of Azerbaijan as the March 31 genocide.
During the genocidal acts, 110 villages of Shamakhi district, more than 150 villages of Garabagh, 115 villages of Zangezur district, 98 villages of Kars province, and 167 villages of Guba district were burnt and plundered, and the population was brutally killed. 35 of these villages were wiped off the face of the earth. Around 199 villages were destroyed and 132,000 Azerbaijanis were killed in Yerevan and its suburbs on ancient Azerbaijani land.
About 16,000 people were killed only in the Guba district. The presence of numerous facts related to physical violence on the human remains in the mass grave discovered in 2007 during excavations for construction works in the town of Guba confirms the fact of genocide and inhuman actions committed by Armenians against our people in 1918.
It is necessary to note that genocide crimes committed against Azerbaijanis in different periods of history, including the March 31 genocide, are proven by facts with time. An example is the recent discovery of remains of people tortured and killed in various forms in mass graves in Edilli village of Khojavand district, the cities of Aghdam and Shusha, as well as in Khojaly and other lands liberated from occupation.
The genocide crimes were based on a centuries-old policy of acute hatred towards Azerbaijanis and unjustified territorial claims. These claims escalated at the end of the last century, as a result of which hundreds of thousands of our compatriots were deported from the territory of present-day Armenia, and this country occupied twenty percent of internationally recognized Azerbaijani lands.
As a result of the II Karabakh War that started on September 27, 2020, and lasted 44 days, as well as anti-terrorist measures of local character carried out in September 2023, the Azerbaijani lands that Armenia kept under occupation for almost thirty years were liberated, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country were fully restored, and historical justice was re-established.
Bringing the facts of the brutal events of genocide committed by Armenian nationalists against Azerbaijanis at the beginning of the last century to the attention of the world and giving political and legal assessment to this issue became possible after the return to power of the Nationwide leader of our people, Heydar Aliyev.
On March 31, 1998, by the decree of National Leader Heydar Aliyev "On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis" dated March 26, 1998, the date "March 31" was declared as the Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis, a political and legal assessment of the acts of genocide, an impetus was given to conduct relevant studies and increase efforts to identify the facts.
Unfortunately, there is still no fair position on the genocide events committed throughout history with special cruelty towards our compatriots on ethnic grounds.
The world community and international organizations should recognize this terrible crime against Azerbaijanis committed in 1918 as an act of genocide at the international level and should not remain indifferent to the crimes committed against our compatriots throughout history so that such events are not repeated in the future," the statement reads.
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