The Ethnic Cleansing in Khojaly in 1992 – a Revengeful Cruelty or a Cold-Blood Calculated Act? – Part 1

The text proposed below is part of a study of the extreme forms of cruelty manifested during military operations in recent times, especially in the second half of the 20th century. It is the result of long-term joint work of the two authors. What has been written should in no way be taken as an attempt to create a negative attitude towards Armenians, wherever they live - in Armenia, in Nagorno-Karabakh or in Bulgaria. Also, in no way should any connection be sought between the publication and the recent visit of President Rumen Radev to Armenia.

Prologue

It is a „well-worn“ phrase that the twentieth century was perhaps the bloodiest in human history. If for the whole of human history we cannot be absolutely certain, then for the new and most recent history we must accept this finding. This is easily understandable if we take into account the fact that in the 20th century we witnessed two world wars and at least two mass ethnic exterminations - the Holocaust and the extermination of the Armenians during the First World War.

The enormous scale of violence in the twentieth century, combined with the literal industrialization of killing, poses a variety of legal, ethical, and political questions to humanity. When talking about them, however, we should not focus only on the listed few mass exterminations of people. The violence, the deliberate systematic killing of people following ethnic “criteria”, which became known as "ethnic cleansing", and the cold-blooded approach to it all by the peArmenia, Azerbaijan, Khojaly, killings, ethnic cleansing, Nagorno-Karabakh, Thomas de Waal, Vyacheslav Mikhailov, Artsakh, Askeran, Agdam, Meskhetian Turks, Elman Mammadov, Karkar River, Karkar, Pirjamal, Nakhichevanik, Memorial, Krasnoye Selo, Stepanakert, Ayaz Mutalibov, Goltz, Thomas Goltz, Kaban, Elif Kaban, Anatol Lieven, Peter Paul Anatol Lieven, Lieven, New America Foundation, Carnegie, Killen, Brian Killen, Asad Farajev, scalping, Frédérique Lengaigne, Victoria Ivleva, Mangasaryanrpetrators, is a phenomenon that has accompanied the history of mankind throughout the twentieth century - from the Anglo-Boer War in the early years of the century, until its last days, when the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia was marked by the indiscriminate slaughter of the "others" on ethnic and religious grounds.

Ironically, precisely in the two countries - the USSR and Yugoslavia, where it was constantly trumpeted that the national question was resolved entirely in the spirit of socialist democracy, friendship and brotherhood between the respective united peoples (in Yugoslavia there was even a highway named "Brotherhood and Unity ", most of which was right on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of the Socialist Federative Republic Yugoslavia) we witnessed a "divorce" between the individual nations, accompanied by conflicts of great intensity and bloodshed.

While the conflicts in Yugoslavia were constantly in front of the public's eyes and watched almost under a magnifying glass, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1991-1992 largely remained outside of public attention. Events came together in such a way that the massacre in Srebrenica became a byword for mass murder and crimes against humanity, while similar events from the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan remained almost unknown.

Ironically again, one of the biggest war crimes during this war, the Khojaly massacre, was committed by the Armenian side, which we always see as a collective victim, in the context of the mass ethnic killings and ethnic cleansing that took place in the Ottoman Empire, especially during the First World War.

The massacre in Khojaly

Thomas de Waal gives an unequivocal assessment of the emotional underpinnings of the Nagorno-Karabakh-related events in Azerbaijan and Armenia. He writes: "In 1988, in both Armenia and Azerbaijan, only one issue - the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh - could ignite passions and bring people to the streets. "I talked to hundreds of people - says the Moscow official Vyacheslav Mihailov, who for official reasons has repeatedly resided in both republics. I have not met a single Armenian or Azerbaijani, from a shepherd to an academic, who has taken a compromise position on this issue." [21] (Thomas de Waal interviewed Vyacheslav Mikhailov on December 5, 2000).

When discussing the question of responsibility for the events in Khojaly, one must take into account the fact that in November 1991 an armed formation was formed under the name Artsakh National Liberation Army (NALA), in which, according to the Armenian side, were united all Armenian armed units from Nagorno-Karabakh. They were under unified command and subordinated to the authorities of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. [24]

In January 1992, an offensive of the armed forces of Azerbaijan began in the direction of the important settlement of Askeran (a population of 2,000 inhabitants, mostly Armenians). In case of success of the Azeri offensive, the result would have been the removal of the blockade of Khojaly.

According to the number of inhabitants, at the beginning of 1992, Khojaly was in second place among the settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh with an Azerbaijani population. The road connecting Stepanakert with Askeran and going to the large Azerbaijani regional center Agdam passes through Khojaly. It is also the only functioning airport in Nagorno-Karabakh at that time. Since 1990, the airport has been controlled by a unit of the notorious OMON of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan.

The strategic importance of Khojaly as a motive for the actions of the Armenian armed forces will be discussed a little below. Here we will only emphasize that the Armenian authorities have repeatedly demonstrated their hostile attitude to the intensive construction in Khojaly and the accommodation there of Azerbaijanis - refugees from Armenia, Azerbaijanis - refugees from Stepanakert and other settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as Meskhetian Turks - refugees from Uzbekistan.

Since the autumn of 1991, Khojaly has been practically blocked by the Armenian armed forces. After the withdrawal of the internal troops of the former USSR from Nagorno-Karabakh, according to observers, Khojaly is completely blocked. Since January 1992, the town has been without electricity. Part of the population leaves the city, but complete evacuation is not achieved, despite the persistent requests of the head of the executive power in the city - Elman Mamedov. [24] During this stage of the Armenian–Azerbaijani war, both sides avoided evacuating the civilian population from the war zones because they believed that "evacuating the population means preparing to surrender the territory to the enemy". [24]

On February 25, 1992, Armenian armed formations stormed Khojaly. The artillery shelling of Khojaly began around 23:00 on the night of February 25-26, 1992. The barracks in the city, which was located in the middle of a residential complex, and the outposts of the Azerbaijani defense were destroyed. Armenian infantry invaded the city between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on February 26, 1992.

According to the Armenian sources, the organized resistance of the Azerbaijanis was quickly broken. Observers note that the destruction in Khojaly confirms the fact that there was artillery preparation before the assault, but their appearance does not speak of any persistent street fighting. Indeed, the last stronghold of resistance was liquidated by the Armenians around 7 am on February 26, 1992. The Armenian side reported only 10-12 casualties during the operation. [24]

After the start of the assault, part of the population of Khojaly fled outside the city in panic, trying to retreat to Agdam. According to Memorial's investigation, some of the groups of refugees included armed fighters from the city's garrison.

It can be considered proven that the Armenian side wanted the civilian population to leave Khojaly and that this was one of theArmenia, Azerbaijan, Khojaly, killings, ethnic cleansing, Nagorno-Karabakh, Thomas de Waal, Vyacheslav Mikhailov, Artsakh, Askeran, Agdam, Meskhetian Turks, Elman Mammadov, Karkar River, Karkar, Pirjamal, Nakhichevanik, Memorial, Krasnoye Selo, Stepanakert, Ayaz Mutalibov, Goltz, Thomas Goltz, Kaban, Elif Kaban, Anatol Lieven, Peter Paul Anatol Lieven, Lieven, New America Foundation, Carnegie, Killen, Brian Killen, Asad Farajev, scalping, Frédérique Lengaigne, Victoria Ivleva, Mangasaryan objectives of the operation to capture it. Details of this matter, as well as of the left "free corridor" along the right bank of the Karkar River, are given later. Those fleeing the city were found to have taken two routes, with most fleeing right along the "free corridor" left behind, though most of them were unaware of its existence.

It was these refugees who were heavily shelled by Armenian outposts located along the route and a large number of victims were given. Calculations based on the speed of the retreaters and the location of the massacre indicate that the shooting of the refugees took place at dawn.

The smaller group of refugees who took an alternative route were also fired upon.

Some of the escapees still manage to reach Aghdam, but others, having escaped the shelling, freeze while wandering around the mountain. A certain part of the refugees was captured near the villages of Pirjamal and Nakhichevanik. There are numerous testimonies that prisoners were also shot. [24]

The scene of the mass death of the refugees who took the first route was photo-documented and captured on video while the Azerbaijani forces were transporting the bodies of the killed by helicopters to Aghdam. From the recorded footage, it can be seen that the bodies of those killed are scattered over a considerable area. Among the victims, women and the elderly predominate, and there are also children killed, as well as people in uniform.

About 200 bodies of the murdered were brought to Aghdam in particular. (It should be borne in mind that this is only part of the victims). Several dozen of them have traces of having messed with the corpses. Doctors from the Aghdam medical train found no less than four scalped bodies and one with a severed head. In Agdam, a state forensic-medical examination was conducted on 181 bodies, 130 of which were men, 51 women. Of these 181 bodies, 13 are of children. The expertise found that the cause of death of 151 people were gunshot wounds, 20 people – shrapnel wounds, and 10 people were killed by a blow with a blunt object (for example, a butt). [24]

For their part, the representatives of the Armenian side of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic informed the representatives of "Memorial" that "with their permission, 120-130 corpses were transported to Agdam". 96 bodies were buried in Aghdam, and the rest were taken away by the relatives of the killed people.

In the diary of the medical train in the city of Aghdam, through which almost all the injured residents and armed defenders of Khojaly passed, 598 wounded and severely frostbitten were noted. A case of a man who was scalped alive is also recorded in the diary.

The "Memorial" report notes that the assessment of the dead residents of Khojaly must take into account the fact that there is a large number of dead not only from the shelling (the bodies of some of the shot were taken to Agdam) but also of a large number of those who froze to death while wandering around the mountain. The testimony of a woman who lost her three children due to frostbite was recorded. According to observers, it is practically impossible to establish the exact number of deaths due to frostbite. According to a March 26, 1992, "Karabakh" newspaper report, quoted by "Memorial," the Khojaly Refugee Assistance Commission granted aid to 476 families of the dead. [24]

The Armenian representatives justify the massacre of the refugees in the "free corridor" by saying that armed Azerbaijani fighters withdrew together with the refugees. Next, one of the responsible participants in the operation from the Armenian side will be quoted, according to whom the desire of the Armenian command was to withdraw the "Azerbaijani soldiers" through the left "free corridor" so that the latter would not be forced to fight to the end in Khojaly. [29] In this sense, the justification of the "official representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is neither convincing nor logical.

As an official reaction of the Armenian side in the conflict, a statement of the Supreme Council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic can be noted, in which it expresses regret for the cases of atrocities during the capture of Khojaly. Regardless, no attempt has been made to investigate the crimes committed surrounding the capture of Khojaly. [24] In their conversations with Memorial representatives, Armenian officials did not deny that "it is possible that atrocities were committed during the capture of Khojaly, as among the members of the Armenian armed forces there were embittered people whose relatives were killed by the Azerbaijanis, and also people with a criminal past."

The fate of those residents of Khojaly, who remained in the city after its capture by the Armenians, is not at all happy either. They number about 300 people, including 86 Meskhetian Turks. According to the testimony of local residents, participants in the storming of Khojaly, "official officials of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" and journalists, the remaining civilians in Khojaly were captured and within three days were taken to Stepanakert, in the settlement of Krasnoe village and in the isolation cell in Askeran.

Some of the prisoners, with the permission of the leadership of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, were taken to the homes of Armenian families who had relatives detained on the territory of Azerbaijan.

Memorial observers say that the men captured in Stepanakert were beaten, while the women and children were not tortured. However, there were cases of rape of women, including minors.

According to the Armenian side, all the women and children were handed over to the Azerbaijani authorities within a week. This is generally confirmed by the testimony of both belligerents to the mass media. Observers summarize that as of March 28, 1992, more than 700 captured residents of Khojaly - both in the city and on the road to Aghdam, had been handed over to the Azerbaijanis. Those freed are mostly women and children. [24]

At the same time, there is credible evidence that women, children, and to a lesser extent men, were kept as "barter stock." Various observers found that on March 13, 1992, residents of Khojaly were still being held hostage in Askeran. There were also women and young girls among them. It is confirmed that there were later women held as hostages in Askeran as well. [24]

The report of the human rights center "Memorial" on the mass violations of human rights related to the capture of the settlement of Khojaly on the night of February 25-26, 1992 by Armenian armed formations contains the following important conclusions:

"During the implementation of the operation to capture the city of Khojaly, mass violence took place against the peaceful population of this city.

The declared provision of a "free corridor" for the population to leave Khojaly can be seen either as deliberate actions by the officials of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) to "cleanse" the city of its inhabitants, or as recognition by the authorities in NKR that they were not able to ensure the peaceful population of the territory controlled by them respect for human rights, regardless of their belonging to one or another nationality.

The information about the existence of a "free corridor" was not brought to the knowledge of the main mass of residents of Khojaly.

The rest of the peaceful population in Khojaly, after its capture by the Armenian troops, was deported. These actions were carried out in an organized manner, many of the deportees were kept in Stepanakert, which clearly indicates that there were orders for this from the authorities of the NKR". [24]

We have given such attention to the Memorial report because it is one of the most neutral sources possible in the case. If one reads the full text of the report quoted here, one will see that nothing was spared on the Azerbaijani side either, especially when it comes to the shelling of Stepanakert with "Grad" artillery systems for volley fire.

It should be noted, however, that the summarized results of the Azerbaijani investigation do not conflict with the data from independent sources cited so far. At first, Azerbaijanis did not dare to comment on the full scale of the tragedy, because the authorities were afraid that public anger would turn against them.

They had certain reasons for this. When the brought dead bodies started to be arranged on mattresses on the floor in the mosque in Aghdam, people began to insult the president of Azerbaijan - Ayaz Mutalibov, for failing to protect the Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds of Azerbaijanis gathered around the mosque, praying for the murdered. Some faint at the sight of their slaughtered relatives brought in by trucks minutes earlier. A lot of public tension is created. [11]

This was followed by a brief period in which the official authorities in Azerbaijan sharply raised the death toll in their reports, speaking of over 1,000 victims.

Soon after, however, the data was refined. Finally, according to the official data of the Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan, 613 people were killed. Of these, 106 are women, 63 are children and 70 are elderly. 1,275 people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 people remains unknown to this day - they have disappeared without a trace. As a result of the tragedy, 487 residents of Khojaly were severely maimed, including 76 small children. Six families were completely exterminated, 26 children lost their parents, and 130 children lost one parent and became orphans. Of those killed, 56 people were killed with particular cruelty – burned alive, scalped, beheaded, gouged out or stabbed with bayonets – including pregnant women. [30]

Според азербайджанската страна случилото се в Ходжали е геноцид. Масовото убийство в това населено място е официално осъдено от: Босна и Херцеговина, Гватемала, Джибути, Йордания, Колумбия, Мексико, Организацията „Ислямска конференция“, Пакистан, Панама, Перу, Судан, 20 щата на САЩ, Хондурас и от Чешката република. (http://mfa.gov.az/en/content/795?options=content&id=854 ).

In its judgment of April 22, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights reached an important conclusion regarding the crime committed in Khojaly, qualifying the conduct of those who carried out the attack as "acts of particular gravity which may be determined as war crimes or crimes against humanity'.

A well-documented tragedy

Despite the fact that today the pogroms in Khojaly and the mass killing of civilians are not among the examples of ethnic cleansing often cited by the media, they are well documented by independent sources. The credibility of the fact of violence and ethnic cleansing itself cannot be doubted.

The journalist Thomas Goltz was the first to report on the drama in Khojaly. On February 27, 1992, he reported from the city of Aghdam the first information about the murders. Even then he reported over 500 killed. [9] Subsequently, their number increased to over 600. The journalist's information came from an imam in Khojaly, who reported that he had a named list of 477 killed. To this day, Baku is still extremely cautious and talks about 100 victims, while the Armenian side claims that there are only two Azerbaijanis killed. It so happens that the two opposing sides learn significantly more accurate data from the pages of The Washington Post.

In fact, there is serious doubt that the death toll was initially deliberately understated because the scale of the slaughter was shocking. Goltz reports the opinion of an anonymous Azerbaijani civil servant, according to whom there would be a riot in Baku if the exact number of those killed became known to the public. The journalist also reported on the first 27 people killed in Khojaly, who were buried in Agdam. [9]

Goltz's information was also confirmed by the Reuters correspondent in Agdam - Elif Kaban. The Reuters Correspondence was quoted on 29 February 1992 by "The Independent". It reports a large number of those killed in Khojaly, as well as the despair of the survivors, who lash out at the journalists with the accusation that they are "just watching" what is happening.

On March 1, 1992, "The Sunday Times" published new correspondence of Goltz from Aghdam under the headline "Armenian soldiers slaughter hundreds of people from refugee families". [10] In this correspondence, the number of Azerbaijanis shot and bayoneted was given as "more than 450". Separately, the administration of the morgue in Aghdam is cited, where 479 deaths have been registered so far, and the number of those already buried is 29. Doctors from the hospital in Aghdam were also quoted as saying that 140 survivors were admitted there - all with gunshot or stab wounds. [10]

On March 2, 1992, "The Times" reported on Anatol Lieven's mission to Azerbaijan. [5] Lieven investigates reports of mass killings by Armenian armed forces and comes under fire while flying on a helicopter over the theater of events. He reported a large number of dead bodies that he observed from the air during his flight around Khojaly. In fact, he managed to board a civil aviation helicopter, the crew of which was assigned the task of collecting the bodies of the slaughtered civilians. A television operator was also on the plane, filming "several dozen" killed. [5]

The helicopter in which Lieven flies manages to take four of the bodies on board. After landing back at the airport, Lieven has the opportunity to examine the bodies of three victims - two adults and one child - a girl. All three were shot. [5] Lieven managed to examine subsequently the bodies of another 31 killed brought to Agdam. He testified that only three of them were not civilians. The three uniformed killed included an Azerbaijani militiaman (policeman) and two volunteer fighters. [12]

The participation of Anatol Lieven in the investigation of the ethnic cleansing in Khojaly is of particular importance, because he is a person with a very high scientific and journalistic reputation, as well as a very serious competence. Peter Paul Anatol Lieven (Peter Paul Anatol Lieven) was born on June 28, 1960. He is a British scholar and journalist who won the George Orwell Award for Journalism. Lieven is a senior fellow on US global strategy and the war on terror at the New America Foundation. He is Head of Research in International Relations and Terrorism and Visiting Professor at King's College London.

Between 2000 and 2005, Lieven worked on issues of international politics and security policy at the world-renowned Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His journalistic career includes work for the Financial Times, where he covered at various times Central Europe, Pakistan (where he lived in the 1980s), Afghanistan, the former Soviet Union and Russia - including during the First Chechen war. He also worked as a freelance correspondent in India. He was an editor at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and in the Eastern Service of the British public broadcaster BBC. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge.

On March 03, 1992, "The Times" reported that a local truce had been concluded in the Khojaly region so that the Azerbaijanis could collect the bodies of their dead and the refugees who were still hiding in the mountains and in the forest around could go home. Journalists reported that all those killed they saw were ordinary people dressed in poor, working-class clothing. Eight women and three small children were counted among the victims. The bodies of two families who were killed together have been identified. Some of those killed, including a little girl, had horrific head wounds. Survivors say that the Armenian soldiers shot point-blank at the people who had already fallen to the ground. [4]

On the same day, a BBC reporter reported live on the morning news (from 07:37) that he had counted the bodies of more than 100 Azeri men, women and children, as well as a baby, who had been shot at point blank range in the heads. Again on the early news (this time at 08:12) footage was shown showing the bodies of murdered civilians gathered in the mountains around Khojaly. The BBC reporter and his broadcaster confirm that the bodies of more than 100 people - men, women and children - killed by the Armenian fighters have been counted. All had gunshot wounds to the head, estimated to have been fired from a distance of less than one meter. On the Azerbaijani side, there is already talk of more than 1,000 Azerbaijanis killed.

Again, on March 3, 1992, the correspondence of Brian Killen was published in "The Washington Times", who reported new details from Agdam. [11] In the post titled "Reports of atrocities horrify Azerbaijan", Killen called the killings in Khojaly "the worst massacre in 4 years of fighting over the disputed territory".

The correspondence reports that a group of journalists and Azerbaijani government officials managed to make a short visit to the Armenian-occupied town of Khojaly. They were flown there by a civil aviation ambulance helicopter bearing the insignia of the Red Cross, which was escorted by two Mi-24 military helicopters of the now former, but still present, Soviet Army in the region. The group managed to get the bodies of three children on board the helicopter. The group stays on the ground no more than 15 minutes. When they see the helicopter, the Armenian fighters open fire and it is forced to fly away. [11]

A Russian journalist reports that at a distance of 45-50 meters from the place where the helicopter landed, he counted at least 30 corpses. Mission participants confirm reports from people involved in collecting the bodies of the dead from the forests around Khojaly that many of the bodies are missing parts of their skulls because they were apparently shot at point blank range. Azerbaijani civil servant Asad Farajev testified that "women and children were scalped." [11]

In this publication in "The Washington Times" the testimony of Reuters photojournalist Frédérique Lengaigne was announced for the first time. She reports that she saw two trucks full of bodies of slaughtered Azeris on the way to Aghdam. In one, she managed to count 35 bodies. In the other, according to her, the number was probably the same. Some of the bodies had their heads cut off, others were badly burned. All those killed were men, but only a few wore camouflage military uniforms. [11]

Frédérique Lengaigne was quoted with the same data in the March 3, 1992 New York Times article titled "Massacre by Armenians Reported." [13] The helicopter pilot who flew with TV operators and journalists over the Khojaly region also confirmed that he saw corpses scattered around the city, as well as dozens of dead bodies near the Askeran Pass, a mountain pass several kilometers away from Agdam.

In 1992, Frederique Lengaigne worked for Reuters in Moscow, photographing the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the outbreak of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh in late 1991 and early 1992, she left for Azerbaijan and stayed in the city of Aghdam until the end of February 1992. Lengaigne witnessed the flow of refugees fleeing Khojaly, as well as the loads of dead bodies brought from there - after the bloodiest night of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. (613 killed and 150 missing).

Frédérique Lengaigne's photo archive (http://xocali.org/en/index.php?p=photo_archive_lengaigne ) is undoubtedly one of the most detailed and moving documents of the Khojaly drama. (Photo testimonies of the ethnic cleansing in Khojaly have also been left to us by the Russian journalist Victoria Ivleva - http://xocali.org/en/index.php?p=photo_archive_ivleva , as well as the photo reporter of RIA-Novosti, R. Mangasaryan, who sealed footage showing the complete devastation of Khojaly after its capture by Armenian forces).

(To be continued. In it, the questions about the strategic importance of the city of Khojaly, as a reason that heralded the pogrom against its peaceful population and the possible motives for the mass killings of civilians on the night of February 25-26, 1992, will be considered.)
References: 

[1] ACNIS Salutes the Armenian Armed Forces on Army Day, The Armenian Center for National and International Studies, January 28, 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20131029214431/http://acnis.am/pr/280110/index.htm

[2] Armenian general on OSCE MG co-chairs’ parity, Armenian News – Tert.am, 01. 05. 2012, 17:09, http://www.tert.am/en/news/2012/05/01/co-chairs/495071

[3] Atanesyan Vahram, Thomas Goltz: The godfather of the Legend of the “Khojaly Genocide”, July 25, 2013, https://horizonweekly.ca/am/13317-2/ 

[4] Bodies Mark Site of Karabagh Massacre. The Times, 3 March 1992.

[5] Corpses litter Hills in Karabakh, The Times, 2 March, 1992.

[6] Fighting intensifies in Armenian – Azerbaijani War, The New York Times, September 25, 1992, http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/25/world/fighting-intensifies-in-armenian-azerbaijani-war.html

[7] Fisk Robert, Echoes of Stalinism abound in the very modern Azerbaijan – Armenia conflict. The same old enemies are clanking around the black mountains of Karabagh: Russian power, Tutkish expansionism and Armenian nationalism, The Independent, Saturday, 9 April, 2016, 13:16 BST, http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/echoes-of-stalinism-abound-in-the-very-modern-azerbaijan-armenia-conflict-a6976421.html

[8] Garagozov Rauf, The Khojaly tragedy as a collective trauma and factor of collective memory, Azerbaijan in the World, Online Analytical Input From Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Vol. 3, No 5, Marvh 01, 2010, http://biweekly.ada.edu.az/vol_3_no_5/The_Khojaly_tragedy_as_a_collective_trauma_and_factor_of_collective_memory.htm

[9] Goltz Thomas, Nagorno-Karabakh Victims Buried in Azerbaijani Town, The Washington Post, February 28, 1992, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/02/28/nagorno-karabakh-victims-buried-in-azerbaijani-town/9d179769-e6bb-4476-8807-8d5133d40205/?utm_term=.a8d95f909517

[10] Goltz Thomas, Armenian Soldiers Massacre Hundreds of Fleeing Families, The Sunday Times, 1 march 1992.

[11] Killen Brian, Atrocity Reports Horrify Azerbaijan, The Washington Times, 3 March 1992.

[12] Lieven Anatol, Massacre Uncovered, The Times, 3 March, 1992.

[13] Massacre by Armenians Being Reported, The New York Times, March 3, 1992, http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/03/world/massacre-by-armenians-being-reported.html

[14] Melkonian Markar and Seta Gpranyan-Melkonian, My Brothers Road: An American’s Fateful Journey to Armenia, I.B. Tauris, 2005

[15] NKR President decorates Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan with the Golden Eagle Order, President of the Artsakh Republic - Bako S. Sahakyan, 09. 05. 2009, http://www.president.nkr.am/en/photosAndVideos/photoalbum/5/474/ 

[16] Painful Search, The Independent, 12 June, 1992.

[17] Privat Pascal and Steve Le Vine, The Face of a Massacre, Newsweek, 16 March, 1992.

[18] Quinn-Judge Paul, Armenians killed 1000, Azeris charge, The Boston Globe, 3 march 1992.

[19] Smolowe Jill and Yuri Zarakhovich, Massacre in Khojaly, 16 March, 1992.

[20] Аркадий Тер-Тадевосян (1939 года рождения), New Armenia Net, http://www.newarmenia.net/index.php?id=311&name=Pages&op=view 

[21] Де Ваал Том, Глава 6. 1988 – 1990 г.г., Азербайджанская трагедия, Главы из русского издания книги „Черный сад“, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/newsid_4664000/4664799.stm

[22] Де Ваал Том, Черный сад. Между миром и войной, Главы из русского издания книги „Черный сад“, 15 июля 2005 г., 08:06 GMT, 12:06 МСК, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/newsid_4673000/4673979.stm 

[23] Де Ваал Томас, Черный сад. Армения и Азербайджан между миром и войной, Издательство „Текст“, перевод Олега Алякринского, 2005 г., https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/system/uploads/article_attachment/attach/0002/24358/Chernyy_sad._Armeniya_i_Azerbaydzhan_mezhdu_mirom_i_voynoy.pdf 

[24] Доклад правозащитного центра „Мемориал“ о массовых нарушениях прав человека, связанных с занятием населенного пункта Ходжали в ночь с 25 на 26 февраля 1992 г. вооруженными формированиями, http://old.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/karabah/HOJALY/Chapter1.htm#_VPID_5 

[25] Изявление на Министерството на външните работи на Република Азербайджан по повод на 25-та годишнина от геноцида в Ходжали, 25 февруари 2017 г., http://sofia.mfa.gov.az/bg/news/148/3084

[26] Коларов Георги, Ген. Аркадий Тер-Тадевосян: Готови сме да унищожим тръбопроводите на Азербайджан, NEWS.bg, 07 януари 2012, 18:52:42, https://news.bg/interviews/gen-arkadiy-ter-tadevosyan-gotovi-sme-da-unishtozhim-traboprovodite-na-azerbaydzhan.html

[27] Матнишян Мариам, Командос: Борьба за выживание, PanARMENIAN News, 2 ноября 2010, http://www.panarmenian.net/rus/details/56211/ 

[28] Мелик – Шахназарян Левон и Гайк Демоян, Ходжалинское дело: Особая папка, http://armenianhouse.org/mshakhnazaryan/docs-ru/khojaly_f/khojaly.html 

[29] Мелик – Шахназарян Левон, Славная победа армянского оружия, 168 hours – news and analysis, February 28, 2017, 09:24, https://ru.168.am/2017/02/28/4414.html 

[30] Министерство на външните работи на Република Азербайджан. Геноцидът в Ходжали, http://mfa.gov.az/en/content/795?options=content&id=850 

[31] Столяров Кирилл, Распад: От Нагорного Карабаха до Беловежской пущи, Москва, 2001 г.

Key words 

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Khojaly, killings, ethnic cleansing, Nagorno-Karabakh, Thomas de Waal, Vyacheslav Mikhailov, Artsakh, Askeran, Agdam, Meskhetian Turks, Elman Mammadov, Karkar River, Karkar, Pirjamal, Nakhichevanik, Memorial, Krasnoye Selo, Stepanakert, Ayaz Mutalibov, Goltz, Thomas Goltz, Kaban, Elif Kaban, Anatol Lieven, Peter Paul Anatol Lieven, Lieven, New America Foundation, Carnegie, Killen, Brian Killen, Asad Farajev, scalping, Frédérique Lengaigne, Victoria Ivleva, Mangasaryan