Thugs who committed Khojaly genocide and whose hands were soaked in blood of Azerbaijani people had to be held to account in court - President Ilham Aliyev (FULL SPEECH)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 26. The thugs who
committed the Khojaly genocide and whose hands were soaked in the
blood of the Azerbaijani people had to be held to account in court,
President Ilham Aliyev said during his meeting with representatives of the Khojaly district
public, Trend
reports.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Two years ago, the foundation of the Khojaly Genocide Memorial
Complex was laid with my participation. Today, we are gathered for
the opening of this Memorial Complex.

The Khojaly genocide is a bloody war crime committed by the
Armenian state, by Armenian fascists, against the Azerbaijanis —
against humanity; it is a war crime against humanity. The Armenian
state bears full responsibility for this. In just one night, more
than 600 innocent civilians, 106 of whom were women and 63 were
children, were brutally murdered by Armenian fascists. 150 people
went missing, and it is clear that they were also killed by the
Armenians. The remains of some of them were found after the
occupation and buried.

This is the greatest tragedy for the Azerbaijani people. In
order to convey this tragedy to the world and to present our just
cause to the world community, the state of Azerbaijan, public
organizations, non-governmental organizations, and many
institutions have been working hard. I would like to specifically
mention the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation here today.
Immediately after its establishment, the Foundation launched a
large-scale campaign, “Justice for Khojaly!” This initiative was
implemented by the Vice-President of the Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva.
Over the past 20 years, many events, presentations, symposiums, and
conferences have been held in a number of countries around the
world on its initiative. Many books, brochures, and booklets have
been published. Because the Armenian state, Armenians of the world,
and the states behind world Armenianism and the Armenian state
tried to hush up this bloody tragedy, Armenian propagandists even
tried to blame Azerbaijan for it. If we had not raised our rightful
voice, perhaps there would be no accurate information about the
Khojaly genocide in the world today. It is precisely as a result of
our persistent efforts that about 20 countries have officially
recognized the Khojaly genocide as an act of genocide, and this
process is continuing.

The impact of the “Justice for Khojaly!” campaign has been
enormous. Let me repeat that we demanded justice. Unfortunately,
however, international organizations and leading countries of the
world remained indifferent to our tragedy. I want to state again
that they were trying to cover up this bloody crime perpetrated by
the Armenian state. But we were moving towards justice step by
step. The fact that the Khojaly genocide has been officially
recognized by about 20 countries was one step; the Patriotic War
and our glorious Victory were the second step, and the liberation
of the city of Khojaly two and a half years ago was one of the last
steps. Finally, the last step was the recent trial of war criminals
in Baku. The thugs who committed the Khojaly genocide and whose
hands were soaked in the blood of the Azerbaijani people had to be
held to account in court.

As a result of the Second Patriotic War and the anti-terrorist
operation, some of the war criminals were eliminated by the Armed
Forces of Azerbaijan, while others, especially those considered to
be the leaders of the separatists, were detained at different times
and brought to justice. This is a complete triumph of justice. We
have secured justice ourselves; our people, united like a fist,
demonstrated tremendous heroism both in 2020 and 2023. We secured
justice ourselves through the professionalism, dedication, and
courage of our Armed Forces. Of course, bringing war criminals to
justice and organizing a fair trial was, I repeat, the final
manifestation of justice.

There are not too many countries in the world that would win a
complete and absolute victory in a just war and ensure their
territorial integrity and sovereignty by liberating every inch of
land, and then bring war criminals to justice. We did this — the
state of Azerbaijan did. Our determination, I can actually say, our
unbending resolve ensured this. The people of Azerbaijan know
perfectly well how much pressure and threats we were subjected to
during the occupation. During the occupation, we were often given
signals that we should come to terms with that reality, that
Azerbaijan would not be able to liberate its lands, that the great
powers, the patrons of Armenia, would not allow this to happen, and
that the Azerbaijan Army would not be able to win on the
battlefield. Such far-fetched speculation was spread in the broad
information space and was conveyed to the leadership of Azerbaijan
through various channels. But there was no force that could
influence our determination, and we had repeatedly stated this.
During the occupation, I stated both from authoritative
international platforms and during numerous meetings with the then
displaced persons that we would not put up with the occupation and
that if the issue was not resolved through negotiations, we would
restore our territorial integrity by military means — and that is
exactly what happened.

After I was elected President for the first time, I stated in my
speech at the swearing-in ceremony that this was the key issue for
us and that our territorial integrity must be fully restored. The
period of preparation took a long time, and this was only natural.
Because we had to gather strength, we had to grow stronger. We had
to confirm our rightful cause on the international level, including
the need to convey information about the war crimes of the Armenian
state. We had to convey the truth about the Khojaly genocide, and
we did convey it. In recent years, many international organizations
have had to adopt decisions and resolutions in support of our
position — our just position. This formed the legal framework for
resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. We have established
close bilateral relations with a number of countries; we have
strategic partnership relations with many countries. This has
created an opportunity to communicate the realities of Azerbaijan,
the realities of the Garabagh conflict, on the international level.
We have built a strong economy that is independent of anyone. We
have built a strong army — we have enhanced the professionalism of
our army, and, at the same time, we have purchased weapons,
ammunition, and equipment with the revenues we have received. In
other words, with every day and every month, we were moving towards
Victory, and I had said this many times during the occupation —
every day we had to bring Victory closer, and so we did. In a
matter of 44 days, we defeated the enemy, the enemy surrendered,
signed the act of capitulation, and we stopped the war. Today, the
history of the last two and a half years shows how correct and
thoughtful this was. It is true Khojaly, Khankendi, and some other
settlements had not yet been liberated from occupation at the time,
but I knew, and I am sure that the people of Azerbaijan also knew,
that this day was not far off. As a result of the anti-terrorist
operation that lasted only a few hours in 2023, the illegal junta
was eliminated, the occupiers were expelled from our lands, and the
15,000-strong Armenian army illegally settled in our lands was
disarmed and surrendered. This was the final nail in the coffin of
Armenian separatism. It was at that time that justice for Khojaly
was secured.

Today, the opening of this Memorial Complex in Khojaly is a
celebration of justice. Because I said this two years ago at the
groundbreaking ceremony, together with the people of Khojaly, we
laid the foundation of this complex. At that time, I said that this
project had been prepared by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and was
ready for a long time — it was planned exactly the way it is, a
place was also chosen in Baku, and only a final decision was needed
on my part for us to start building it. But something stopped me
from doing this every time. Then I understood what it was. It was
the belief that the day would come and we would build this Memorial
Complex in Khojaly itself — and so we did. This Complex will be the
embodiment of indelible memory. We must never forget the Khojaly
genocide. We must never forget the atrocities of the Armenian
state. We must never forget our history. We must be vigilant, and
we must always be strong. The enemy must always be afraid of us,
just as they are today. It is as a result of this fear that the
people of Azerbaijan live in peace today.

Unfortunately, the Patriotic War did not teach the Armenian
state a lesson. However, after the Victory of 2020, we repeatedly
conveyed our position to the Armenian leadership in various ways —
not to trust anyone or rely on anyone. Foreign military personnel
were temporarily stationed on our land with our permission. If
anyone thinks that this will somehow deter us, they are wrong. We
have repeatedly sent messages to the Armenian side asking them to
put an end to separatism, to remove the illegal junta regime, and
for the Armenians living in Garabagh to take Azerbaijani
citizenship. We had repeatedly stated this. We even initiated a
reintegration program via the Internet, but we did not receive an
adequate response. On the contrary, the separatists and the forces
behind them became even more impudent. From the Victory of 2020 to
the anti-terrorist operation of 2023, representatives of foreign
states repeatedly came here illegally. I do not want to mention the
names of those countries at today's ceremony. They gave advice,
they sent weapons, they sent mines in order to encourage the
separatists, to incite them against us again, and to disregard the
state of Azerbaijan and its statehood. They believed that the
contingent of a foreign state stationed here would somehow deter
us. It could not deter us from anything, and the anti-terrorist
operation that lasted for several hours showed this to the whole
world. Anyone in the way of our determination will be crushed.

Residents of Khojaly are attending the opening of this Memorial
Complex today. Almost every one of them has lost their loved ones,
family members, and relatives, and has lived with this pain and
sorrow for many years. Those who lost their loved ones and those
who lost their land and were displaced from their homeland must
have had tremendous willpower to endure all this — and they truly
did. Because what kept them going was faith, faith in justice,
faith in the state, and faith in our army.

Today, this Memorial Complex is an embodiment of the unbending
spirit of the Azerbaijani people. Because for such a long time —
i.e., the Khojaly genocide was one of the bloodiest crimes of the
20th century and our people were subjected to it — our people,
despite facing injustice for 30 years, preserved their identity,
preserved their dignity, and preserved their faith. As we are
gathered for the opening of this Memorial Complex, we say again
that the state of Azerbaijan is so strong today that no one should
even think of committing any provocation against us. Azerbaijan is
no longer what it used to be in 1992. Our state is a strong state
today; it is a state capable of defending itself. Over the past 80
years, there has not been another state in the world that would
have achieved such a complete and absolute victory as we did.
Today, we live in peace, and the guarantor of this is the state of
Azerbaijan and our policy.

I said during the Patriotic War, when our cities and villages
were being bombed by the Armenian state, that we are Azerbaijanis,
that we are waging and will continue to wage war based on the rules
of war. Unlike the Armenians, we never waged war against innocent
and unarmed civilians, and this has made our people even greater.
Today, the respect for our people and state stems, among other
things, precisely from this. At that time, I said that we would
exact our revenge on the battlefield — and we did. The blood of all
martyrs has been avenged, and this is at least a certain
consolation for their relatives and loved ones. May Allah rest the
souls of all our martyrs in peace! We will cherish their dear
memory in our hearts forever. We will never forget the Khojaly
genocide or other war crimes committed against us by the Armenian
state. We must and will always be strong so that such tragedies do
not happen again.