Foreign

Foreign

Letter of Azerbaijanâ€™s Permanent Representative to UN concerning Khojaly massacre distributed among UN member offices

07 March 2011 08:48 (UTC +04:00)

According to him, the most serious international offences, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, were committed in the course of the ongoing aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan.

â€œThe attack and capture of the town involved the extermination of hundreds of Azerbaijanis, including women, children and elderly; thousands of civilians were wounded and taken hostage, many of whom remain missing; while the town was razed to the groundâ€, noted Amb. Mehdiyev, adding that the level of brutality in Khojaly is shocking: atrocities included scalping, beheading, bayoneting of pregnant women and mutilation of bodies. â€œThe facts confirm that the intentional slaughter of the Khojaly town civilians was directed at their mass extermination only because they were Azerbaijanis. Khojaly was chosen as a stage for further aggression, occupation and the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani territoriesâ€.

He also specifies that, against this background, â€œit is notable that the high-ranking officials of Armenia cynically regard atrocities committed against Azerbaijani civilians as â€œglorious victoriesâ€, which paved the way for their â€œnationâ€™s and countryâ€™s road in modern historyâ€.

â€œThe Government of Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated, and I have been instructed to point it out once again, that the genocide in Khojaly, along with other grave offences committed in the course of the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, entails the formerâ€™s State responsibility under international law and the individual criminal responsibility of those who participated in said acts and their accomplices and accessoriesâ€, Amb. Mehdiyev added.

â€œWe proceed from the strong understanding that there can be no long-term and sustainable peace without justice and that ending impunity for the most serious international crimes is essential not only for the purposes of individual criminal responsibility, but also for peace, truth, reconciliation and the rights of the victimsâ€, he noted.

The Letter of Azerbaijanâ€™s Permanent Representative to the UN concerning the massacre of Khojaly was distributed among the UN member offices.