Azerbaijan denies Armenia's groundless accusations on 1990 massacre in Baku

By Trend

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry commented on the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry dated January 13, 2021, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on Jan. 13.

“The unfounded statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry about the alleged massacre of the Armenians in Baku in January 1990 shows that this country has not abandoned its fake propaganda and the intention to inflame hostility and enmity between peoples,” the ministry said.

“We remind the Armenian Foreign Ministry that about 150,000 Azerbaijanis were massively deported from their historical and ethnic lands in the territory of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and forcibly resettled to Azerbaijan from 24 districts and Yerevan city of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1948-1953,” the ministry said.

“Moreover, the unfounded territorial claims of Armenia to Azerbaijan in late 1980s, the aggressive separatist activity of chauvinist Armenians in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan, the support of the Soviet leadership for this activity, another violent and brutal deportation of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Armenia gave impetus to the expansion anti-Soviet movement in Azerbaijan,” the ministry said.

“The Soviet troops, which entered the country on the night of January 20, 1990, to prevent a nationwide movement and break the desire of the Azerbaijani people for independence, committed an unprecedented massacre of the civilians, grossly violating the norms of international law, the Constitution of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic,” the ministry said.

“However, the events of January 1990 did not break the determination of the Azerbaijani people for independence and our country gained independence,” the ministry said. “Today, the independence and sovereignty of Azerbaijan are unequivocally recognized and supported by the entire international community.”

“By disseminating such fabricated information, the Armenian Foreign Ministry pursues the goal of concealing the genocide committed throughout history against the Azerbaijani civilians, the policy of ethnic cleansing, the brutal murder of 613 civilians in Khojaly, gross violation of the fundamental rights of more than a million Azerbaijanis for almost 30 years,” the ministry said.

“The fact that Yerevan, instead of promoting the idea of coexistence in conditions of peace, security and progress after the signing of a trilateral statement on the termination of all military operations in the region on November 10, 2020, continues to spread hostile propaganda upon invented grounds, is regrettable and reveals the true intentions of this country,” the ministry said.

“The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejects the unfounded accusations of the Armenian Foreign Ministry and calls on this country to act in accordance with the obligations undertaken upon the trilateral statements dated November 10, 2020 and January 11, 2021 and based on the principles of the rule of international law," the ministry said.