Monday, April 11 2022 12:55

ArmInfo. 30 years ago, on April 10, 1992, the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out an  unprecedented massacre of peaceful population in the village of  Maragha in the Martakert region of Artsakh, resulting in complete  annihilation of the Armenian settlement with a population of about  5,000.

The war crimes in Maragha are documented in the reports of  international human rights organizations, including Human Rights  Watch and Amnesty International, which state that the atrocities  committed against Armenians resulted in the brutal murder of at least  50 people, and 30 women, 29 women and 9 children were taken hostage,  the fate of 19 of whom is still unknown.

The massacre in Maragha, which was the continuation of the pogroms of  Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku, was another manifestation  of the policy of ethnic cleansing and hatred against Armenians by the  Azerbaijani authorities.

The impunity of the masterminders and perpetrators of the massacres  of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and in the Armenian-populated cities  of Azerbaijan, their glorification, and the anti-Armenian policy  pursued for years laid the foundation for committing new massacres.

Currently, the consistent targeting of the Armenian peaceful  population in Nagorno-Karabakh and creation of humanitarian crisis by  the Azerbaijani armed forces, as well as the incursion into the area  of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces since March 24,  2022, resulting in forcible displacement of more than 400 people,  demonstrate the real objective of the official Baku - the complete  ethnic cleansing of Artsakh.

Today we pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Maragha  massacre. The Republic of Armenia reaffirms its commitment to ensure  the right of the people of Artsakh to a free, secure, dignified life  in their homeland, and emphasizes the urgency of the international  community's efforts to prevent threats to existential security of the  Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.  Below is a statement by the Foreign  Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh.  Today marks the 30th  anniversary of the brutal massacre of the civilian population of  Maragha settlement of the Martakert region of Artsakh committed by  the Azerbaijani army on April 10, 1992. As a result of the massacre,  about 50 people, including 30 women, were tortured and brutally  killed, and dozens, mostly women and children, were taken hostage,  and the fate of 19 remains unknown to this day.

The assault of the armed forces of Azerbaijan on Maragha was not  caused by military necessity and was aimed exclusively at seizing the  territory and annihilating the people living there. Dozens of Maragha  residents were killed for the sole reason that they were Armenians.  The massacre in Maragha, planned by the Azerbaijani authorities and  conceived by them also as an act of intimidation, demonstrated Baku's  genocidal plans towards the entire population of Artsakh.

The fact that the commander of the Azerbaijani armed forces' units,  which committed the war crimes in Maragha, Shahin Tagiyev, was  awarded the title of national hero of Azerbaijan, leaves no doubt  that the mass killings of civilians was among the main tasks of the  Azerbaijani armed forces. With this step, the Azerbaijani authorities  confirmed that they bear full responsibility for the internationally  wrongful acts committed in Maragha.

The massacre of civilians in Maragha is an integral part of the  genocidal policy systematically pursued by the Azerbaijani  authorities for over 30 years, starting from the brutal pogroms in  Sumgait up to the war crimes committed during the 44-day armed  aggression in 2020.

Only a strong and prosperous Artsakh that develops its statehood, has  a status of an international legal subject and unites all Armenians  around itself, can become the best guarantee of non-repetition of the  tragedy of Maragha.