KHOJALI TRAGEDY IN THE LIGHT OF ILHAM AIYEV’S POLICY OF LIES
By Ivan Gharibyan
news.am
Feb 26 2010
Armenia
Today is the 18th anniversary of the tragedy in Khojali (Xocali),
which is one of the bloody chapters of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
As a rule, the tragedy has become a subject for political maneuvers by
the Azerbaijani propaganda machinery, which has always been following
the principles of lie and distortion of facts.
The Khojali tragedy has become an instrument for propaganda at the
Aliyev clan’s disposal. Executing the clan’s orders, the Azerbaijani
mass media keep on creating an image of Armenians as "inhuman monsters
that committed genocide in Khojali." For the only purpose of spiting
Armenians, Azerbaijanis have been seeking to play genocide victims
for almost 20 years. However, the Baku propagandists’ overwhelming
desire to exaggerate and lay the blame on the Armenians has made them
so blind that they have got entangled in their own lies by showing
pictures of dead bodies that have nothing in common with the tragic
events on February 26, 1992.
In many respects, the domestic political situation in Azerbaijan
accounted for the tragic events in Khojali, as well as for the pogroms
in Baku and Sumgait. In that case, it was the confrontation between
the then post-Soviet authorities of Azerbaijan led by Ayaz Mutalibov
and the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which was seeking power at
any cost. So the nationalist-fascist PFA had no problem in provoking
– immediately or indirectly — a massacre of the Azeri population in
the region. The main aim was overthrowing Mutalibov, was it not?
Azerbaijan’s first President was expelled from the country, his name
is taboo there now or, even if it is mentioned, it is only in the
context of "betrayal of national interests." The reason is clear:
in his interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta on April 2, 1992, the then
Azerbaijani leader refuted the official interpretation of the tragic
events in Khojali.
"The Khojali residents that survived tell that everything was organized
to cause me to resign. A certain force was working to discredit the
President. I do not think that Armenians, who expertly deal with such
situations, could allow Azerbaijanis to get documents exposing their
cruel actions. I suppose that some people were concerned with that in
order to show the pictures at the session of the Supreme Soviet and
have me come into focus. If I state it is the Azerbaijani Opposition
that is to blame, they can say I am slandering them. But the general
context is that the Armenians left a corridor for people to leave
the place. Why on earth should they fire?
Especially near Agdam, where sufficient armed forces were stationed
and could help the people. Or they could have arranged for civilians
to go. That was standard practice." Those are Ayaz Mutalibov’s own
words. Mutalibov, who was then President of Azerbaijan, was much better
informed of the events than the "national leader" Heydar Aliyev,
who had lived in Moscow for years and settled down in Nakhchevan,
Azerbaijan – to say nothing of the "crown price" Ilham.
For almost 17 years the Aliyev clan has been spreading lies and
slander on the events on February 26, 1992.
The very tales about the "Khojali genocide" are most natural in the
context of the Azerbaijani propaganda machinery’s style. Yes, they
had to "counterbalance" the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad,
Baku, as well as ethnic cleansing throughout Azerbaijan, even the
deportation of all the Armenians from the Shahumyan region.
So the Azerbaijanis killed in Khojali because of the war unleashed by
Azerbaijan, and because of domestic political struggle in that country,
were fated to become the last card to play by the Aliyev clan, which
has beaten all the records for historical falsifications.
The civilians that were killed in Khojhali on February 26, 1992, fell
victim to the war Azerbaijan unleashed, but was doomed to lose. All
attempts to distort facts for the purpose of consolidating the Aliyevs’
"hereditary monarchy" will hardly rest their souls.