NKR MFA: THE SLAUGHTER OF UNARMED CIVIL POPULATION OF MARAGHA IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
armradio.am
09.04.2012 15:42
"In the history of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, abounding in
numerous facts of atrocity and vandalism by Azerbaijan, the events
in the village of Maragha of the NKR Martakert region are one of the
most extreme manifestations of sadism and barbarity ever known to
humanity," NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
On April 10, 1992, after a three-hour preparatory bombardment,
the subunits of the Azerbaijani regular army invaded the village of
Maragha from the Azerbaijani village of Mir-Bashir (now Tartar). As
a result of the aggression 100 people were killed - mostly women,
children, and elderly persons. Scores of people were taken hostages
and later were exchanged, but the fate of many of them still remains
unknown. Two weeks later, on April 22-23, the village was repeatedly
attacked and the people who had come back to their burnt homes were
forced to abandon the village once and for all.
The monstrous crimes in Maragha followed the Armenian pogroms and
deportations in the Northern Atsakh, as well as Baku, Sumgait,
Kirovabad and other settlements of Azerbaijan and were aimed at
frightening the people and disabling them to live in their homeland.
With the depth of human tragedy, the level of cruelty, the number of
people exposed to violence and captured, the events in the village
of Maragha occupy a special place among the bloody crimes committed
by Azerbaijan in Getashen, Martounashen, Buzlukh, Erkej and the other
Armenian villages in the northern part of the NKR in 1991-1992.
Vice Speaker of the House of Lords of the British Parliament Baroness
Caroline Cox, who visited the place of the tragedy several days later,
was shocked at what she saw. "They are not of human race" -said the
Baroness about the Azerbaijani servicemen who had carried out the
slaughter. Baroness Caroline Cox both took pictures and video-taped
those atrocities committed by the Azerbaijanis in the village of
Maragha and also described them in her book "Ethnic Cleansing in
Progress," as well as in her numerous interviews.
"It is impossible to describe what we saw there. The village was
completely destroyed. The people were burying the dead, rather to say
anything that was possible to bury, charred human remains, tortured,
cut or sawed parts of bodies. We saw the bloody swords by which
they had done all these brutalities. After killing the villagers
the Azeris robbed and burnt the village. By the way, they told us
that the servicemen were followed by the civilians with trunks who
were going to finish the robbery, - and we saw some of those trunks
scattered all over the land, which the looters did not manage to take
away with them," witnessed Caroline Cox.
"In 1997, a number of human rights organizations conjointly prepared a
comprehensive reference on the events in Maragha and submitted it to
the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Helsinki Watch International
Human Rights Organization officially confirmed that scores of
civilians were martyrized and tens of women and children were taken
hostages. However, the international media did not cover the massacre
of the Armenians in Maragha at all and the international community
has not given yet a corresponding assessment to these tragic events,"
the statement reads.
"You have the most powerful weapon - the truth - said Baroness Cox.
You should bring it to the international structures' notice that
Azerbaijan attempted to commit genocide against the population of
Karabakh. You must more actively present to the world the mass crimes
perpetrated against Armenians in Maragha, Sumgait, Baku, etc. These
are crimes against humanity. I support the Armenians and comprehend
that they will never be able to live under the Azerbaijani dominion, as
the Armenians of Karabakh, who lived under the control of Azerbaijan,
suffered much."
"The massacre in the village of Maragha, which is still under
Azerbaijan's occupation, cannot be called a military operation,
as there were no military bases in the village but only peaceful
citizens, who became the main target of the aggression. The crimes
were aimed at deporting the Armenian people from their homeland,"
the Ministry said, adding that "the slaughter of unarmed civil
population of Maragha is a crime against humanity and civilization,
without period of limitation, and the perpetrators of this crime must
carry punishment to the fullest extent of the law."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
armradio.am
09.04.2012 15:42
"In the history of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, abounding in
numerous facts of atrocity and vandalism by Azerbaijan, the events
in the village of Maragha of the NKR Martakert region are one of the
most extreme manifestations of sadism and barbarity ever known to
humanity," NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
On April 10, 1992, after a three-hour preparatory bombardment,
the subunits of the Azerbaijani regular army invaded the village of
Maragha from the Azerbaijani village of Mir-Bashir (now Tartar). As
a result of the aggression 100 people were killed - mostly women,
children, and elderly persons. Scores of people were taken hostages
and later were exchanged, but the fate of many of them still remains
unknown. Two weeks later, on April 22-23, the village was repeatedly
attacked and the people who had come back to their burnt homes were
forced to abandon the village once and for all.
The monstrous crimes in Maragha followed the Armenian pogroms and
deportations in the Northern Atsakh, as well as Baku, Sumgait,
Kirovabad and other settlements of Azerbaijan and were aimed at
frightening the people and disabling them to live in their homeland.
With the depth of human tragedy, the level of cruelty, the number of
people exposed to violence and captured, the events in the village
of Maragha occupy a special place among the bloody crimes committed
by Azerbaijan in Getashen, Martounashen, Buzlukh, Erkej and the other
Armenian villages in the northern part of the NKR in 1991-1992.
Vice Speaker of the House of Lords of the British Parliament Baroness
Caroline Cox, who visited the place of the tragedy several days later,
was shocked at what she saw. "They are not of human race" -said the
Baroness about the Azerbaijani servicemen who had carried out the
slaughter. Baroness Caroline Cox both took pictures and video-taped
those atrocities committed by the Azerbaijanis in the village of
Maragha and also described them in her book "Ethnic Cleansing in
Progress," as well as in her numerous interviews.
"It is impossible to describe what we saw there. The village was
completely destroyed. The people were burying the dead, rather to say
anything that was possible to bury, charred human remains, tortured,
cut or sawed parts of bodies. We saw the bloody swords by which
they had done all these brutalities. After killing the villagers
the Azeris robbed and burnt the village. By the way, they told us
that the servicemen were followed by the civilians with trunks who
were going to finish the robbery, - and we saw some of those trunks
scattered all over the land, which the looters did not manage to take
away with them," witnessed Caroline Cox.
"In 1997, a number of human rights organizations conjointly prepared a
comprehensive reference on the events in Maragha and submitted it to
the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Helsinki Watch International
Human Rights Organization officially confirmed that scores of
civilians were martyrized and tens of women and children were taken
hostages. However, the international media did not cover the massacre
of the Armenians in Maragha at all and the international community
has not given yet a corresponding assessment to these tragic events,"
the statement reads.
"You have the most powerful weapon - the truth - said Baroness Cox.
You should bring it to the international structures' notice that
Azerbaijan attempted to commit genocide against the population of
Karabakh. You must more actively present to the world the mass crimes
perpetrated against Armenians in Maragha, Sumgait, Baku, etc. These
are crimes against humanity. I support the Armenians and comprehend
that they will never be able to live under the Azerbaijani dominion, as
the Armenians of Karabakh, who lived under the control of Azerbaijan,
suffered much."
"The massacre in the village of Maragha, which is still under
Azerbaijan's occupation, cannot be called a military operation,
as there were no military bases in the village but only peaceful
citizens, who became the main target of the aggression. The crimes
were aimed at deporting the Armenian people from their homeland,"
the Ministry said, adding that "the slaughter of unarmed civil
population of Maragha is a crime against humanity and civilization,
without period of limitation, and the perpetrators of this crime must
carry punishment to the fullest extent of the law."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress