On 20 February 1988, the representatives of the Armenian community at the session of the Soviet of People’s Deputies of the NKAO adopted a decision to petition to the Supreme Soviets of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR for the transfer of the NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR.

On 22 February 1988, near the settlement of Asgaran on the Khankandi-Aghdam highway, the Armenians opened fire on a peaceful demonstration by the Azerbaijanis protesting against the above-mentioned decision of the Soviet of People’s Deputies of the NKAO. Two Azerbaijani youths lost their lives in consequence, becoming the first victims of the conflict.

On 26-28 February 1988, twenty-six Armenians and Azerbaijanis were killed as a result of the disturbances in Sumgait. It is notable that one of the leading figures in these events was a certain Edward Grigorian, an Armenian and native of Sumgait, who was directly involved in the killings and violence against the Armenians and the pogroms in the Armenian neighborhoods. By decision of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of the Azerbaijan SSR dated 22 December 1989, Grigorian was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. The Court found Grigorian to be one of the organizers of unrest and massacres. Depositions by witnesses and victims show that he had a list of flats inhabited by the Armenians and, together with three other Armenians, called for reprisals against the Armenians, in which he took part personally. His victims (all Armenians) identified Grigorian as one of the organizers and active figures in the violence. In fact, events in Sumgait, being necessary to the Armenian leadership as a mean of launching an extensive anti-Azerbaijani campaign and justifying the ensuing aggressive actions against Azerbaijan, had been planned and prepared in advance.

During 1988-1989 the Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Armenia. In the course of mass deportation, at least 216 Azerbaijanis were killed and 1,154 people were wounded. The refugees from Armenia — eventually numbering approximately 200,000 people — began to arrive in Azerbaijan.

On 23 September 1989, The Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR adopted the Constitutional Law “On Sovereignty of the Azerbaijan SSR,” 5th provision of which provided, inter alia, “that sovereignty of the Azerbaijan SSR shall cover the whole its territory, including Azerbaijan’s integral parts – Nakhchyvan ASSR and NKAO”, and that “the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR with other Union Republics might be altered only by mutual agreement of republics concerned.”

On 1 December 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenia SSR adopted a resolution on the re-unification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh.

On 10 January 1990, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Resolution “On incompatibility of the acts of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR concerning Nagorno-Karabakh with the Constitution of the USSR”, where was stated the unlawfulness of the unification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh without the consent of the Azerbaijan SSR.

On 20 January 1990, with the approval of the Soviet leadership under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet army units were dispatched to Baku. Their reprisals, which were conducted with uncommon savagery, left hundreds of innocent Azerbaijani citizens dead and wounded.

In 1991, the central law-enforcement agencies of the then USSR apprehended dozens of the Armenian armed groups that operated outside Nagorno-Karabakh. Thus, the Chaykand village of the Khanlar district of Azerbaijan was turned by the Armenian armed groups into a criminal hub from which they bombed and shelled surrounding villages and roads, terrorizing the local Azerbaijani population. From 1989 to 1991, in Chaykand and adjacent areas only 54 people fell victim to the Armenian armed groups. In 1992, Azerbaijan regained its control over the Goranboy district.

On 30 August 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan, having regard to the Constitutional Law of 23 September 1989, declared the restoration of state independence established in 1918 by the ADR.

On 2 September 1991, the joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shaumian district Soviet of People’s Deputies declared the establishment of “the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” within the borders of the NKAO and Shaumian district of Azerbaijan.

The Constitutional Act “On State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, adopted on 18 October 1991, established the political and economical foundations of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 26 November 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted a Law “On the Abolition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

At the end of 1991 and the beginning of 1992 the conflict turned into a military phase. Taking advantage of the political instability as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and internal squabbles in Azerbaijan, Armenia initiated with the external military assistance combat operations in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In February 1992, an unprecedented massacre was committed against the Azerbaijani population in the town of Khojaly. This bloody tragedy, which became known as the Khojaly genocide, involved the extermination or capture of the thousands of Azerbaijanis; the town was razed to the ground. Over the night from 25 to 26 February 1992 the Armenian armed forces with the help of the infantry guards regiment â„– 366 of the former USSR implemented the seizure of Khojaly. The inhabitants of Khojaly remained in the town before the tragic night (about 2,500 people) tried to leave their houses after the beginning of the assault in the hope to find the way to the nearest place populated by the Azerbaijanis. But these plans have failed. Invaders destroyed Khojaly and with particular brutality implemented carnage over its peaceful population.

Brutal annihilation of hundreds of blameless inhabitants of Khojaly was one of the most heinous crimes during the armed conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Armenian armed forces and foreign military units spared virtually none of those who had been unable to flee Khojaly and the surrounding area. As a result, 613 persons were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people. 1,275 inhabitants were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 persons remains unknown to this day. In the course of the tragedy 487 inhabitants of Khojaly were severely maimed, including 76 children not yet of age. 6 families were completely wiped out, 26 children lost both parents, and 130 children one of their parents. Of those who perished, 56 persons were killed with especial cruelty: by burning alive, scalping, beheading, gouging out of eyes, and bayoneting of pregnant women in the abdomen.

Armenian officials deny their responsibility for the crimes committed during the conflict, including against the population of Khojaly, airily falsifying facts and sharing own interpretations of them, which deviate not only from reality but also from elementary logic. Nevertheless, even the subtlest propaganda will never manage to disprove the facts that speak of a situation diametrically opposite to that represented by the Armenian side.

Apart from the considerable information in possession of the law-enforcement agencies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the responsibility of Armenia is documented also by numerous independent sources and eyewitnesses of this tragedy as well as is acknowledged by the direct perpetrators of the massacre.

Thus, for example, Markar Melkonian, brother of the well-known international terrorist Monte Melkonian, while considering what has happened in Khojaly simply as a consequence of “discipline problems” and “insubordination” among Armenian military units, testified the following:

At about 11:00 p.m. the night before, some 2,000 Armenian fighters had advanced through the high grass on three sides of Khojalu, forcing the residents out through the open side to the east. By the morning of February 26, the refugees had made it to the eastern cusp of Mountainous Karabagh and had begun working their way downhill, toward safety in the Azeri city of Agdam, about six miles away. There, in the hillocks and within sight of safety, Mountainous Karabagh soldiers had chased them down. “They just shot and shot,” a refugee woman, Raisa Aslanova, testified to a human Rights Watch investigator. The Arabo fighters had then unsheathed the knives they had carried on their hips for so long, and began stabbing.

Now, the only sound was the wind whistling through dry grass, a wind that was too early yet to blow away the stench of corpses.

Monte crunched over the grass where women and girls lay scattered like broken dolls. “No discipline”, he muttered. He knew the significance of the day’s date: it was the run-up to the fourth anniversary of the anti-Armenian pogrom in the city of Sumgait. Khojalu had been a strategic goal, but it had also been an act of revenge.

In his book “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war”, the British journalist Thomas de Waal makes references to words of the Armenian militaries. Thus, “[a]n Armenian police officer, Major Valery Babayan, suggested revenge as a motive. He told the American reporter Paul Quinn-Judge that many of the fighters who had taken part in the Khojaly attack “originally came from Sumgait and places like that”.

But the most important was that the recently elected President of Armenia Serzh Sarkisian said of what had had happened:

Before Khojali, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that [stereotype]. And that’s what happened. And we should also take into account that amongst those boys were people who had fled from Baku and Sumgait.

As Thomas de Waal sums up, “Sarkisian’s account throws a different light on the worst massacre of the Karabakh war, suggesting that the killings may, at least in part, have been a deliberate act o mass killing as intimidation”.

The facts mentioned above confirm that the intentional slaughter of the Khojaly town civilians on 25-26 February 1992, including children, elderly and women, was directed to their mass extermination only because they were Azerbaijanis. The Khojaly town was chosen as a stage for further occupation and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani territories, striking terror into the hearts of people and creating panic and fear before the horrifying massacre.

In May 1992, Shusha, the Azerbaijani-populated administrative centre of the region within Nagorno-Karabakh, and Lachyn, the region situated between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, were occupied. In 1993, the armed forces of Armenia captured another six regions of Azerbaijan around Nagorno-Karabakh: Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadly and Zangilan.

Contrary to the numerous statements of the official Yerevan that Armenia is not directly involved into the conflict with Azerbaijan, there are indisputable proofs, which testify against such allegations and argue for the direct military aggression of the Republic of Armenia against a sovereign state.

There are ample evidences proving participation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia in the hostile actions against Azerbaijan. Since, the scope of this report prevents from providing complete list of available evidences, below are just a few well-documented facts of direct military actions of Armenia.

Thus, in January 1994 the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan defeated the sub-divisions of the separate motor-rifle regiment â„–. 555 (Army unit No. 59016) of the Republic of Armenia in the combat and captured several Armenian soldiers. According to the documents seized in the wake of the combat operation, one of the units of this regiment made a dash in April 1993 from the town of Vardenis in the Republic of Armenia to the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan with the purpose of backing-up the group of Armenia’s occupation forces in this part of Azerbaijan.

Among the trophy captured during the combat operations in the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan there were combat maps with battle-orders addressed to the commander of the separate motor-rifle regiment â„– 555 and to the head of the operational group, signed by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, lieutenant-general G.Andresian, as well as working combat maps of the officers of the 3rd motor-rifle battalion of the 3rd separate motor-rifle brigade of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. These maps are marked on with hand-written decision to launch an assault and seize the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan on 1 April 1993.

The Azerbaijani troops seized also many personal documents of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia drafted into the military and sent to Azerbaijan to participate in the combat operations. Among them are national passports, military ID’s issued by the different drafting bodies of the Republic of Armenia (“military commissariats”), call-up papers for joining military service and participation in the military musters issued by drafting bodies of the different districts of the Republic of Armenia, official ID’s of the employees of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, special contracts for the service in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, travel warrants, petitions for conferring military ranks, drafting warrants, leave warrants and vocation passes.

In 1992-1994, Armenian Armed Forces occupied administrative districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan as follows:

May, 1992 – the Shusha district;
May, 1992 – the Lachyn district situated between the former NKAO and the Republic of Armenia;
April, 1993 – the Kalbajar district (between the former NKAO and Armenia, to the north of Lachyn);
July, 1993 – the Aghdam district;
August, 1993 – the Fuzuli district;
August, 1993 – the Jabrayil district;
August, 1993 – the Gubadly district;
October, 1993 – the Zangilan district.

On 30 April 1993, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution â„– 822, demanding immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Kalbajar and other recently occupied areas of Azerbaijan.

On 29 July 1993, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution â„– 853, which demanded “the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of occupying forces involved from the district of Aghdam and other recently occupied districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

On 14 October 1993, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution â„– 874, which called for “immediate implementation of the reciprocal and urgent steps provided for in the CSCE Minsk Group’s Adjusted timetable, including the withdrawal of forces from recently occupied territories”.

On 11 November 1993, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution â„– 884, which condemned the occupation of Zangilan district and the Horadiz town, attacks on civilians and bombardments of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and demanded the unilateral withdrawal of occupying forces from the Zangilan district and Horadiz, and the withdrawal of occupying forces from other recently occupied areas of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In sum, the ongoing armed conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan has resulted in the occupation of almost one-fifth of the territory of Azerbaijan and made approximately one out of every eight persons in the country an internally displaced person or refugee, 20,000 people were killed, 50,000 people were wounded or became invalids, about 5,000 citizens of Azerbaijan are still missing.

The aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan has severely damaged the socio-economic sphere of the country. In the occupied territories 871 settlements, including 11 towns, 848 villages, hundreds of hospitals and medical facilities have been burned or otherwise destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of houses and apartments, thousands of social and medical buildings have been destroyed or looted. Hundreds of libraries have been plundered, a great deal of valuable manuscripts have been burned or otherwise destroyed. Several State theatres, hundreds of clubs and dozens of musical schools have been destroyed. Several thousands of manufacturing, agricultural and other kinds of factories and plants have been pillaged. Hundreds kilometers-long irrigation system have been totally destroyed. Flock of several hundreds of thousands of sheep and dozens of thousands of cattle have been driven out of the occupied territories to Armenia. About 70% of summer pastures of Azerbaijan remain in the occupied zone. The regional infrastructure, including hundreds of bridges, hundreds of kilometers of roads and thousands kilometers of water pipelines, thousands kilometers of gas pipelines and dozens of gas distribution stations, have been destroyed.

The war against Azerbaijan has also had catastrophic consequences for its cultural heritage both in the occupied territories and in Armenia.

According to the preliminary data, the overall damage inflicted on the Republic of Azerbaijan as a result of Armenian aggression is estimated to be tens of billions USD.

On 12 May 1994, the ceasefire was established. However, Armenia continues to violate the truce. Since summer of 2003 there has been an acute increase in the Armenian side’s violations of the cease-fire. In addition to shelling and killing Azerbaijani soldiers along cease-fire line, Armenians also attack civilians residing in the adjacent territories.

The military forces of Armenia, raised unfounded territorial claims against the Azerbaijan Republic in early 1990s, and broking international norms, occupied 20 percent of the territory of our country that was officially recognized by the UN member-countries, barbarously destroyed national culture monuments.

The first human dwellings like the well known caves Azikh and Taghlar, burial mounds Garakopak, Uzarliktapa, located in the occupied territory, are expressly used for military purposes and destroyed. Cemeteries, mausoleums, monuments, mosques, temples, monuments belonged to the Caucasus Albania and other national culture heritage in the territory of the occupied regions Shusha, Lachin, Kalbadjar, Gubadli, Zangilan, Fuzuli were destroyed along with burial mounds in the regions Khodjali, Aghdam, Aghdara, Fuzuli, Jabrayil.

Armenian vandals destroyed Ashaghi and Yukhari Govharagha, Kocharli, Mardinli, Juma mosques, museum houses of genius composer Uzeyir Hadjibayov and founder of professional vocal art Bulbul, Khurshud Banu Natavan’s palace complex, estates of Firudin bay Kocharli and the Zohrabbayovs, poet, artist and scientist Mir Movsun Navvab’s house, ancient cemetery, mausoleum of great poet and vizier of Karabakh khan M.P.Vagif, majority of dwelling houses with eastern architecture peculiarity in the territory of historical-architectural reserve Shusha, Panah khan’s estate, Juma mosque in Aghdam, palaces of Hamza Sultan and Soltan Ahmad, mosques, sanctuaries and temples, stone statues, ancient graves, burial mounds, dwelling houses representing historical importance in Lachin, and took transportable material culture monuments to Yerevan.

Destroying of our material culture monuments in the occupied territories is continuing till nowadays. Occupiers conduct wide-scale and unprofessional archeological excavations, destroy burial mounds, conveyed loot to Armenia. 13 monuments of universal importance (6 architectural and 7 archeological ones), 292 of state importance (119 architectural and 173 archeological) and 330 of local importance (270 architectural, 22 archeological, 23 parks, monumental and memorial monuments, 15 decorative art examples) remained in the ancient Azerbaijan lands Nagorny Karabakh and adjacent regions, occupied by Armenian terrorists.

Besides, 22 museums, where were collected 40 thousand exhibits, 927 libraries with 4,6 million books, 808 clubs, 4 theatres and 2 concert places, 8 culture and rest parks, 4 picture galleries, 85 musical schools, 103.2 thousand furniture equipments, 5640 musical instruments, 481 cinema units, 20 movie cameras, 423 videotape recorders, 5920 national male and female cloths, 40 loudspeakers, 25 large and 40 small attractions remained under occupation.

General damage caused to our republic, excepting immovable historical and culture monuments, the value of which is impossible to determine, accounts 23 trillion 680 million manats or US$ 6 billion 71 million. (The caused damage is approximately calculate on basis of documents of 1994).

The Aghdam Bred museum, the only in the former USSR, was razed to the ground during bombing of the town. About 13 thousand valuable and rare exhibits of the world-famed Kalbadjar historical and study of local lore museum, about 5 thousand exhibits of the Lachin historical and study of local lore museum were taken to Armenia.

Hard blow was stroke in our morality in result of occupation of Shusha. 8 museums, 31 libraries, 8 culture houses were destroyed and ruined only in Shusha.

About 5 thousand exhibits of the Shusha historical museum, about 1000 exhibits of the Shusha branch of the Azerbaijan Carpet and Popular Applied Art State museum, the State Karabakh Historical museum, more than 300 exhibits of the museum house of composer Uzeyir Hadjibayov, the founder of professional Azerbaijan music, more than 400 exhibits of the museum house of founder of vocal art Bulbul, more than 100 exhibits of the memorial museums of famous musician and artist Mir Movsum Navvab, more than 2 thousand exhibits of the Aghdam historical and study of local lore, more than 3 thousand exhibits of the Gubadli historical and study of local lore museum, about 6 thousand exhibits of the Zangilan historical and study of local lore museum were looted. The memorial museum of famous Azerbaijan musician Gurban Pirimov in the Agdam region, the historical and study of local lore museums of the Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Khodjali regions were destroyed as well.

Valuable exhibits, pictures and sculptures, world famed Azerbaijan carpets, memorial objects of well known Azerbaijan persons and other valuable exhibits were in the museums, looted by Armenian aggressors.

Funds of the Shusha, Lachin and Gubadli art galleries, consisted of works of famous Azerbaijan artists and sculptors, were also destroyed.

Armenian aggressors, demonstrating special barbarism, conveyed statues of great Azerbaijan music workers Uzeyir Hadjibayov and Bulbul, as well as poetess Khurshud Banu Natavan from Shusha to the territory of Armenia. These monuments were shot and damaged with heavy technique in contradictory to all moral norms. They were hardly brought to Baku and now demonstrated in the Fine Art Museum.

It is impossible to determine the price of these destroyed, ancient, irreplaceable, valuable, culture monuments of Azerbaijan people.

Preservation of history and culture monuments, remained in the Azerbaijan Republic territory as memory of our people’s centuries-old history, is problem of international importance as Azerbaijan people’s cultural heritage is integral part of the world culture.

Destroying and intentional damaging of history and culture monuments by Armenian aggressors in the occupied territories of the Azerbaijan Republic is contradict to the Hague Convention “Concerning preservation of cultural values during armed conflicts” of 1954, European Convention “Concerning preservation of archeological heritage” of 1992, UNESCO Convention “Concerning preservation of world cultural and natural heritage” of 1972.

The decree concerning the development of productive forces in the mountainous regions, including Nagorny Karabakh autonomous area was passed before the beginning Nagorny Karabakh conflict. There were intensive construction works going on in Nagorny Karabakh and the occupied regions at time of the beginning of the conflict.

As the result of aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan, during the 1988-1994 period, serious material damage has been caused to Azerbaijan.

Overall area of the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan includes;

- the territory of the Mountainous Karabakh Region;

- the Territories of 7 regions bordering with Mountainous Karabakh (Aghdam, Fizuli, Djabrayil, Zangelan, Kubatly, Lachin and Kelbajar);

- the territories of 4 regions bordering with Armenia (Gazakh, Agstafa, Tovuz and Gedabey);

- the territories of 4 regions bordering with the Line of Contact (Ter-Ter, Goranboy,Agdjabedi and Beylagan);

- and the territories of the administrative regions of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. This area constitutes 17,000 square miles.

Occupied regions of Azerbaijan have been almost totally destroyed and looted. Great economic damage has been inflicted also to 4 regions of Azerbaijan bordering with Armenia, 4 regions bordering with the line of contact, and the territories of the administrative regions of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.

From the beginning of the aggression against Azerbaijan, more than 877 settlements have been burned and destroyed.

The Armenian aggressors have pursued the policy of «burned-land and ethnic cleansing» on all captured territories. As a result of such actions, more than 150 thousand houses and apartments (9.1 million square miles) have been destroyed and robbed and 1 million people were forced to leave their homes and became refugees.

In the occupied zones, about 6.000 manufacturing, agricultural and other kinds of factories and plants were fully plundered and exterminated. More than 1 million hectares of agricultural sowing lands, including 127,700 hectares of irrigated lands and 34,600 hectares of vineyards and orchards have been damaged. A 1,200 km2 irrigation system has been totally destroyed. This irrigation system has been partly removed to Armenia.

Some 244 thousand flocks and herds and 69,000 cattle were driven from the occupied territories out of Azerbaijan. Some 70% of summer pastures of Azerbaijan remain in the occupied zone.

Some 4,366 social and medical establishments, including 690 secondary schools, 855 kindergardens, 4 sanatorium complexes, 490 hospitals and other structures of public health have been crippled and fallen into decay.

A number of historical and cultural monuments of the Azerbaijani cultural legacy have been eliminated wild great cynicism by the Armenian aggressors. In all, 22 museums, 4 picture galleries and 9 historical palaces have been burned and devastated by the Armenian barbarians. Some 40 thousand museum pieces and exhibits, which represent great historical meaning, gold and silver, very rare and precious jewelry stones, carpets and other handmade and applied goods, have been robbed. About 44 temples and 9 mosques were desecrated. Some 4.6 mill ion books and inestimable manuscripts have been burned and 927 libraries looted.

A number of cultural and art establishments including 6 state theatres and concert organizations, 386 clubs and 85 musical schools have been destroyed.

The infrastructure of all the 7 occupied regions has been destroyed. Telephone exchanges for 35 thousand subscribers, 2,500 transformer stations and 14,500 km of electric lines have been looted and stolen. More than 160 bridges (3,834 m), 800 km of roads, and 2,300 km of water pipelines, 2 thousand gas pipelines and 35 gas distribution stations have also been destroyed.

The combat activities and following occupation caused a serious environmental damage. As a result, 280 thousand hectares of forest (or 25% of Azerbaijan’s forests), 6 major national parks, as well as more than 200 paleontology and geological sites remain under occupation. In 1993 alone 206,6 thousand m3 of valuable types of timber were taken to Armenia.

Biological diversity of the region occupied by the Armenian aggressors is under threat, because its unique ecosystem is being uncontrollably exterminated. By exploiting mineral resources of the occupied regions, including 2 gold, 4 mercury, 2 chromium, 1 zinc, 1 copper and oilier deposits, Armenia has cynically claimed to be one the world’s leading exporters of rare, precious and non-ferrous metals. The conclusion of an agreement between Armenia and a Canadian company «First Dynasty Mines» on a joint development and exploitation of the Soyudly (Zod) gold deposit, located in the occupied Kelbajar region of Azerbaijan, is an outrageous violation of all international norms.

Uncontrolled mass looting and removal of valuable construction materials to Armenia is shamelessly used in Armenia’s construction industry and has become a significant export item for Armenia.

Annually, vast amounts of natural mineral water from Isti-Su mineral spring and other mineral water springs are being transported from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and form a significant share of currency earnings for Armenia.

Captured armenian tank in Nagorno Karabakh 1992

For nearly seven years, a bitter and violent conflict has raged between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabagh, a district of Azerbaijan inhabited by a majority of ethnic Armenians.

Contrary to the impression held by many Americans and Western Europeans, in this round of conflict, it is Armenia that has invaded Azerbaijan, Armenia that has occupied a fourth of Azeri territory, and Armenia that has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations for unlawful aggression.(1) Nonetheless, while editorials in the U.S. and other Western press have deplored the violence on both sides, Armenia is generally depicted as the victim, Azerbaijan as the aggressor, even in news stories.(2) This portrayal, we believe, particularly in the past few years, has stood reality on its head.

Misinformation and Disinformation

The perception of Armenians as underdogs, as victims of aggression, is rooted in grim historical fact. Decades before Hitler’s Holocaust, they were the first internationally recognized victims of attempted genocide.(3) Indeed, they became the embodiment of victimization, the Ottoman Turks the epitome of genocidal oppressors. And for 80 years, Armenians-both within what was for most of that time the Soviet Republic of Armenia and in the large Armenian diaspora-have remained scarred by those gruesome memories.

This legacy has led to widespread misunderstanding of the current conflict. It has been fed by a worldwide network of Armenian support and solidarity organizations that grew in the aftermath of the genocide and devastation of World War I. These groups, along with the Armenian government, promote the notion that Armenia is the current as well as the historical victim. They accuse Azerbaijan of atrocities, while suggesting that Armenia is virtually blameless. As in any war, of course, each side accuses the other of (and itself occasionally commits) atrocities, but here, the very notion of who has invaded and occupied whom has been blurred.

As the U.S. Committee on Refugees notes “[a]lmost every ‘fact’ relating to this conflict is in dispute.” A few, however, are incontrovertible:

• While Armenia invaded Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan has never invaded Armenian territory.
• Armenian (and some “Karabakh-Armenian”) forces currently occupy not just Nagorno-Karabakh, but nearly one-fourth of Azerbaijan.(4)
• One million Azeris, now refugees, fled or were driven from that occupied territory.(5)
• Tens of thousands of Kurds, who have lived for centuries in the region, have also been made refugees. Since 1992, the Armenians have expelled virtually all the Kurds from Armenia,(6) and driven tens of thousands more from the areas of Azerbaijan where they had lived.

“ln May of 1992, in order to test the waters, Armenian troops were dispatched to breach the Kurdish land between Armenia and Karabakh at its narrowest point, the old Kurdish capital of Lachin. Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabagh stormed the city. They looted Lachin and set it ablaze. The entire population of over 25,000 was forced out. All vestiges of Kurdish culture, historic monuments and textual repositories in the city were destroyed.”(7)

Conflicting Arguments

While most Armenians do not deny either occupying Nagorno-Karabakh and other substantial sections of Azerbaijan, or driving out those Azeris who had not already fled their advance, they counter their critics with two main justifications. The first invokes their historical persecution. Armenians see themselves as clinging to a small, steadily eroding homeland surrounded by hostile forces. In Armenian eyes, that vulnerability is heightened by the rising nationalism of the post-Soviet era. The zones they have captured are needed to ensure their defense, they say, meant to provide a buffer zone against further persecution. The second justification is that of self-determination. Since the majority of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenian and has lived there for generations, they claim that the enclave has the right to declare itself independent.

To the first argument, the Azeris point out that it was not Azeris who were the persecutors of the Armenians, and, in any event, this time it is they, not the Armenians, who are victims of aggression. They counter the argument of self-determination with the principle of territorial integrity.(8) The United States Committee for Refugees put it like this:

In conflict are not simply two warring parties, but two warring principles of international law and conduct. Enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, as well as in earlier international accords and treaties, are two principles that increasingly appear to be mutually exclusive: first, the notion of self-determination-that a people has a right to choose political representation that reflects its interests; second, the inviolability of borders-that existing borders, however they might have come about historically, ought not to be changed by force.(9)

No matter what the justification, clearly the Armenians have violated the principle of international law, enshrined not only in Helsinki, but in the United Nations Charter, prohibiting “the use of force against the territorial integrity of any state.”(10)

Historical Claims

Competing claims in the Caucasus have deep historical roots, with all disputants starting and stopping history where it best supports their case. The area, between the Black and the Caspian Seas, between north Asia and south Asia, has long been a crossroads. Ancestors of the people who now call themselves Georgians, Armenians, and Azeris have all been there for more than a thousand years. Over the centuries, small groups settled in one valley, one mountain top, or another. The fragmentation was exacerbated by religious and secular wars and formalized when the victors drew and redrew borders. The Tsars in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Soviet Union in the 1920s, and the independent former Soviet Republics in the 1990s all faced the same situation: Each of the three nations of the Caucasus Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan- though predominantly populated by its own ethnic group, had enclaves with substantial minorities, and in some cases majorities, ethnically related to one of the neighboring countries.”

Not all of the boundary decisions were the result of wars. In 1975, in the Helsinki Accords, each Soviet Republic, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, reaffirmed the existing boundaries. In 1992, when Armenia and Azerbaijan were each invited by the U.N. to become members, they joined as nations with the existing, internationally recognized borders.(12)

The essence of the Armenian complaint and the crux of the Azeri refutation is that each time borders were redefined in the Transcaucasus, Nagorno-Karabakh was not “given” to Armenia, but rather was accepted as an integral part of Azerbaijan. The Armenian argument is somewhat circular. That Armenians have often asked for Nagorno-Karabakh (and each time been refused) is not proof that the request is just.(13)

Nor, of course, is the fact that boundaries have been settled for hundreds of years proof that they are just.

The Current Conflict

The current conflict dates to early 1988, when, as the Soviet Union was weakening, the local government council in Nagorno-Karabakh petitioned Moscow for unification with Soviet Armenia. The Azeri minority on the council boycotted the February 20 vote, which the Politburo in Moscow quickly rejected. A few days later, Armenians rioted in Stepanakert, the provincial capital, killing two Azeris and wounding dozens. On February 27, when word of that incident reached Sumgait, north of Baku, Azeris rioted and killed 31 Armenians.(14) In September, Armenian mobs attacked Azeris in Stepanakert and Khojaly; by November there were demonstrations in most Azerbaijan cities and growing harassment of Armenians.

From late 1988 to early 1990, there was a massive flight of Azeris from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and a simultaneous flight of Armenians from eastern Azerbaijan to Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia. By the end of 1990, some 300,000 refugees from each side had crossed each other’s path.

In December 1989, Armenia announced a unilateral annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh; in January, anti-Armenian riots broke out in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. On January 13 and 14, at least 46 Armenians were killed. The Soviet Union sent troops to restore order on January 20, and in the next few days they killed at least 122 Azeris and wounded about 600.

In August of 1990, as the USSR was collapsing, both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared independence. Armenia did not reintroduce the annexation resolution, but assisted the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in driving out virtually all remaining Azeris.(15) Then, on December 10, 1991, the Karabakh Armenians held a referendum calling for independence. A majority of voters in Nagorno-Karabakh-fewer than 40,000, in a country of more than seven million-approved. On January 6, 1992, they declared the independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.(16)

At this point the entire conflict changed, and, we would say, the Armenians lost any claim to acting within the standards of international law and conduct. First, they attacked the remaining Azeris in Nagorno-Karabakh. In February 1992, at least 159 Azeris died in a massacre in the town of Khojaly; the remaining 2,000 fled. In May, the same thing happened in Shusha. Then Armenian forces expanded beyond Nagorno-Karabakh and, in May 1992, invaded Azerbaijan. At first, they opened a corridor linking Armenia and the enclave. Soon, however, they expanded operations to occupy a half dozen other regions of Azerbaijan bordering on Nagorno- Karabakh. This push created the million refugees, both Azeri and Kurd, who fled mostly to unoccupied Azerbaijan.

The Russian Factor

The current politics of the region are no less complicated than the tortuous history of the ethnic conflicts. Azerbaijan, like Armenia, became independent in August of 1990, as the USSR was collapsing. It is the only former Soviet Republic with a mixed economy that gives high priority to social welfare programs and, along with Lithuania, has no Russian military bases.

Its current president, Heydar Aliyev, has had a stormy relationship with Moscow. For years he led the Communist Party in the Soviet Republic Of Azerbaijan, and for a time was head of the Azerbaijan branch of the KGB; he became First Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, and one of the few Muslims on the Soviet Politburo.

While he initially supported Mikhail Gorbachev, he developed serious-ultimately irreconcilable-political differences with him. Aliyev opposed the slogans of perestroika and argued that Gorbachev was leading the country away from socialism.(17) He also disagreed with Gorbachev’s positions-developed by a close group of Armenian advisors-relating to the Caucasus. After the central government did nothing to stop the armed secessionists, sent Soviet troops into Azerbaijan, and then refused to investigate the killings committed by those troops, Aliyev resigned from the Communist Party.(18)

Boris Yeltsin, like Gorbachev, has supported Armenia, despite commercial involvement in Azeri oil production. “For the moment,” BBC correspondent Alexis Rowell noted, “Russian and Armenian interests coincide….It is highly unlikely that any Armenian offensive is undertaken without a green light from Moscow.”(19) But contrary to Rowell’s suggestion, the Azeri government does not “adhere to Moscow’s imperial design.” Indeed, relations have become strained. Azerbaijan recently joined the Junior NATO conference, Partnership for Peace, in large part out of concern for Russian domination. The Russians further antagonized the Azeris by sending a member of the Russian Parliament to Stepanakert in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.(20)

The U.S. Stake

The U.S., like Russia, has tended to discount the Azeri side of the conflict. There have, however, been differences between the approaches of the Department of State which is more “evenhanded,” and Congress, which is more openly pro-Armenian. Although one would not know it from the U.S. media, four times in 1993 the U.N. Security Council condemned Armenian invasions of Azerbaijan and reaffirmed “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” as well as “the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force for the acquisition of territory.”(21)

Despite these resolutions and clear evidence of Armenian territorial aggression, an influential Armenian lobby has affected U.S. sentiment, particularly in Congress. Numerous congressional testimonials-sponsored, reasonably enough, by those with the most Armenian-American voters in their districts-are inserted in the Congressional Record every year. Until recently, the lobby pushed for passage of a formal resolution condemning the Ottoman Turks for the 1915 massacre. Armenian support for such a resolution has been matched only by the Turkish opposition. Turkey, a major U.S. ally, and the third largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, has, so far, prevailed in this fight.

Lately, however, the Armenian focus has shifted to condemnation of Azerbaijan. Typical was a charge by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (from California, the state with the most Armenian- Americans) that “The Azerbaijanis, like the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century, are attempting to solve a political problem with a violent solution.(22) Sen. Donald Riegel (Michigan, also with many Armenian-Americans) referred to the “brutal blockade” imposed by Azerbaijan on Armenia and condemned “Azeri aggression against the Armenian people.”(23)

Even the Washington Post took note. Since “Armenia has a substantial diaspora in the United States and Azerbaijan does not,” only it “is in a position to apply” constituent pressures on Congress.(24) That pressure has been so effective that Congress condemned Azerbaijan for closing its border with Armenia, while failing to denounce Armenia for invading and occupying Azerbaijan. On a more practical level, on October 24, 1992, Congress passed a law prohibiting government aid, including humanitarian aid, to Azerbaijan.(25) No restrictions whatsoever have been imposed on Armenia, epitomizing what the U.S. Committee for Refugees described as “the almost reflexive U.S. tilt on the Armenian side.” Indeed, the Committee concluded, “the U.S. response has been particularly unbalanced and unhelpful.”(26)

Reason vs. Reasons

Armenia may argue that it had sufficient reasons for invading and occupying a large part of Azerbaijan, but it does not deny that it has done so. And Armenia may argue that the U.N. Security Council was repeatedly wrong in condemning it, but it does not deny that the condemnations have occurred. As always, in conflicts that trace their roots back through the centuries, where disputants justify their actions with chants of vengeance, there is enough blame and blood to go around. But that does not mean that, at a particular moment, the blame is necessarily equal. In this case, the Armenians are the aggressors and should be condemned as such. If any lasting solution is to be found, the international community must continue to struggle against “ethnic cleansing;” the Armenians must withdraw from occupied territory; the parties to the conflict must work with the international community for a peaceful solution; and the U.S. must lift the congressional ban on humanitarian aid to Azerbaijan.

Although the authors are two of the three co-publishers of this magazine, this article represents their own views. The authors have visited Azerbaijan and interviewed president Aliyev, and Ellen Ray is the producer of a brief documentary film about him.

written by Ellen Ray & Bill Schaap