Artsakh MFA statement on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the Maragha massacre.
“April 10 marks the 31st anniversary of the Maragha massacre, one of the most tragic and terrible pages of the first Karabakh war.
On April 10, 1992, the armed forces of Azerbaijan, after a long and intense shelling, invaded Maragha village of Martakert region of Artsakh and brutally massacred the local civilian population. More than 50 innocent citizens were brutally killed and tortured to death, dozens of villagers, including women and children, were captured, some of whom were brutally killed in captivity, and the fate of 19 people remains unknown to this day. Two weeks after those monstrous events, the settlement was attacked again, and the residents who returned to bury their relatives became the victims of new atrocities by the Azerbaijani armed forces.
The Maragha massacre was the continuation of massacres and deportations against the Armenian population of Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other settlements of the Azerbaijan SSR, as well as North Artsakh, whose goal was to suffocate in the bud the legitimate demand for self-determination of the Artsakh Armenians, as well as to deprive the Artsakh Armenians through ethnic cleansing and forced deportation. from the homeland.
Despite the fact that the atrocities committed in Maragha were documented in detail by the international community, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the lack of a proper political assessment of this crime by the relevant international organizations and impunity prepared fertile ground for further aggression by Azerbaijan, the Armenian-hating leadership of its leadership. and for the continuation and strengthening of genocidal policies. As a result, confident in its impunity, Azerbaijan subsequently unleashed two more large-scale wars against the Republic of Artsakh, in April 2016 and September 2020, committing new atrocities and war crimes against the Artsakh Armenians, gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as occupying the Republic of Artsakh. new, more spacious areas.
Even today, ignoring the decision of the international court of the United Nations to immediately end the blockade of Artsakh, Azerbaijan continues to carry out its criminal and genocidal policy in front of civilized humanity, keeping the population of Artsakh under illegal blockade for 120 days, depriving them of basic living conditions, creating a humanitarian crisis, as well as pursuing the implementation of his criminal plan to depopulate Artsakh through terrorist activities.
Once again, we call on all international actors to stop the crimes of the Azerbaijani authorities and not to become silent witnesses or even accomplices to them, to bring Azerbaijan to a legal and constructive field with practical and effective actions, forcing the latter’s authoritarian leadership to respect international law and their obligations.”
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