Azerbaijani President: Khojaly genocide recognized by 13 states

"Last year Azerbaijan put an end to nearly 30 years of occupation by Armenia of almost 20% of its territories. As a result of Armenia's occupation and ethnic cleansing policy, more than 1 million Azerbaijanis were expelled from their native lands. In 1992 Armenia committed the Khojaly genocide killing 613 innocent civilians, including women and children. 13 states have recognized the Khojaly genocide," President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the 77th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) under the theme "Building back better from crises through regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific," Report informs, citing Azertag.

"The United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions in 1993 demanding the complete, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of armed forces of Armenia from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. However, these resolutions were never implemented by Armenia. I invite partner countries to join efforts to propose and elaborate mechanisms of implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions to avoid double standards. We all witnessed that some Security Council resolutions are implemented within days. But in our case, they remained unfulfilled for 27 years. There was no hope that Armenia would comply with the demands of the Security Council resolutions. No pressure and sanctions were imposed on Armenia throughout all these years.

"Instead, Armenian military-political leadership was threatening Azerbaijan with a "new war for new territories." In July 2020, Armenia perpetrated military provocation along the state border. In August, Armenian sabotage group attempted to penetrate through the Line of Contact.

"On September 27th Armenia launched large-scale military aggression against Azerbaijan, heavily shelling the military and civilian populations. Azerbaijan was compelled to launch counter-offensive operations to defend its citizens. Azerbaijan implemented Security Council resolutions and norms and principles of international law and restored historical justice and territorial integrity.

"During 44 days of the Patriotic War, the armed forces of Armenia were totally destroyed. Armenia was forced to sign the act of capitulation on November 10th, 2020.

"Thus, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is over. The conflict was left in the past," the head of state said.