“Along with unfounded territorial claims against Azerbaijan, Armenia has carried out a policy of occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and terrorism in the context of acute national, racial, and religious hatred. As a bitter result of this, more than 20 percent of the territories of Azerbaijan were occupied by Armenia for a period of nearly 30 years, and nearly one million of our compatriots were forced out of their native homelands and became refugees and internally displaced persons. In addition to military personnel, many civilians were also mercilessly killed or severely injured, which resulted in disability, as well as captured, disappeared, or taken hostage,” said Azerbaijan`s Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva as she addressed an appeal to international human rights organizations concerning war crimes and ecocide committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan.
“During the first Karabakh war, a total of 3,890 citizens of Azerbaijan, including 3,171 soldiers, and 719 civilians went missing. 71 of them were minors, 267 were women, and 326 were elderly people. Azerbaijanis, who were captured and taken hostage by Armenia, were brutally tortured and killed, and then their remains were buried en masse in an inhuman manner,” the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson emphasized.