Popular Front of Azerbaijan behind Khojaly massacre - expert 

ArmInfo. The initiator of the massacre of Azerbaijanis in Ivanyan (Khojaly - Az.) was the Popular  Front of Azerbaijan, stated political scientist Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan.

Thus, the Armenian expert responded to the statement of Azerbaijani  President Ilham Aliyev about the fictitious "Khojaly genocide" made  on May 28 in the occupied Artsakh Ivanyan.

Aliyev, in particular, stated that "Armenia must recognize the  so-called Khojaly genocide and apologize."

"Taking into account the policies pursued by the current regime in  Armenia,  namely serving the interests of the Turkish-Azerbaijani  tandem, such a possibility cannot be ruled out. In this regard, I  consider it appropriate to briefly outline, based on real facts, the  details of the so-called "Khojaly genocide" and its real culprits,"  noted Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan.

The political scientist recalled that on February 26-27, 1992, the  self-defense forces of the Republic of Artsakh liberated the Artsakh  village of Ivanyan, but before starting a military operation to  liberate the city, the Armenian self-defense forces opened a corridor  for the safe exit towards Akna of the Turkish- Meskhetian population  expelled from Central Asia and settled in Ivanyan by order of the  government of Soviet Azerbaijan just a few years before these events.

"However, the armed forces of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan shot  the Turkish-Meskhetian population of Ivanyan 3 km from Akna, violated  the corpses and declared the Armenian side guilty of this crime. The  purpose of such atrocity was to remove the then President of  Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov from power.  However, the occupier and  genocidal Sultan of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, spreading lies, has been  blaming the Armenian side for what happened for many years.

The President of Azerbaijan in 1991-1992, Ayaz Mutalibov, objectively  pointed out the real culprits of what happened. On April 2, 1992,  during an interview with the Russian-language Nezavisimaya Gazeta, he  stated that the organizer and culprit was the Azerbaijani opposition,  the Popular Front, which wanted to remove him from power at that  time," the political scientist recalled.

He also noted that 22 years later, on February 27, 2014, in an  interview with the Turkish service of the Arabic international  television company Al-Jazeera, Mutalibov confirmed his opinion, in  particular, stating: ": That terror created by the Popular Front was  directed against me, because I was president at that time: there was  a struggle for power. The worse for Mutalibov, the better for his  opponents. This is our national idea."