Official Yerevan on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to secure the rights of Artsakh’s population to “a free, secure and dignified life in their homeland,” said a statement from Armenia’s Foreign Ministry marking the 30th anniversary of the gruesome massacre of Armenians in Artsakh’s Maragha village by Azerbaijani forces. Artsakh’s foreign ministry also issued a statement commemorating this dark episode.
In its statement, Armenia’s foreign ministry also emphasizes the urgent need for the international community to prevent threats to the existential security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
On April 10, 1992, Azerbaijani forces carried out an aggressive attack on the village of Maragha in the Martakert district where they massacred the local population, resulting in the complete destruction of the village, which boasted a population of 5,000.
“The war crimes in Maragha are documented 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,” said Armenia’s foreign ministry in its statement.
“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,” added the statement. “The impunity of the masterminds and perpetrators of the massacres of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and in the Armenian-populated cities of Azerbaijan, their subsequent 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, which has resulted in forced displacement of more than 400 people, demonstrate the real objective of the official Baku—the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh,” said the statement.
The Artsakh Foreign Ministry echoed the same sentiments in its statement on the Maragha massacre anniversary.
“The assault by 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 Artsakh foreign ministry said in its statement.
“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,” added the statement.
“The massacre of civilians in Maragha is an crucial 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,” added the Artsakh foreign ministry.
“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,” concluded the foreign ministry statement.
