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Khojaly: The Moment of Truth - 4

[March 26, 2007]

See also: Khojaly: The Moment of Truth, Khojaly: The Moment of Truth - 2, Khojaly: The Moment of Truth - 3

The greatest human tragedy in the days of the Karabakh war was undoubtedly Khojaly. During no other military operation did so many civilians, including women and children, suffer as in Khojaly. The actual number of the people killed is still debated today—differing figures are put forth and official Baku continues to use the Khojaly tragedy for its own political ends.

How many people were killed in Khojaly? Different numbers have been put forward at different times – from 200 to more than 600. Thomas de Vaal considers the number made public following the investigation conducted by the Azerbaijani parliament, 485 people, to be most realistic. This number includes all the people killed during the Khojaly operation, including those who froze to death during the escape.

A member of the parliamentary commission, Namik Aliyev, told the visiting Helsinki Watch team in April 1992 that 213 residents of Khojaly had been buried in Aghdam. Another official, Aydin Rasulov, assured the same team members that the number of civilians killed exceeded 300 - not counting those who had frozen to death on the way to Aghdam. On February 27, 1992 the imam of the Aghdam mosque showed American journalist Thomas Goltz a list of 477 names of people killed. The same year Azerbaijani newspaper Ordu printed a list of 636 people killed in Khojaly.

On March 4, 1992 the Nagorno Karabakh parliament made the following statement: “The neutralization of weapon installations of the Azerbaijani armed units and the unblocking of Nagorno Karabakh's only airport near the village of Khojaly…have prompted wide reaction from Azerbaijani and foreign mass media. The armed units of the National Army of Azerbaijan stationed in Khojaly had completely blocked the roads connecting the Askeran region of NKR with the capital of the republic, and had periodically bombarded Stepanakert and other Armenian settlements with heavy artillery. It was possible to overcome the famine that had originated as a result of the blockade only by putting the airport into operation. Although the NKR self-defense forces had left a corridor for the residents of Khojaly to leave the zone of military operations, a portion of the civilian population of the village didn't avail itself of this opportunity. All of them – some 200 people - by their own wish and without any precondition were accompanied to the other side of the border. The Presidium of the Supreme Council of NKR once again declares its readiness to settle all the problems between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan exclusively by peaceful means, at a negotiating table.”

What Chingiz Mustafayev filmed

Azerbaijani cameraman Chingiz Mustafayev shot footage in the vicinity of Aghdam first on February 29 th and then on March 2 nd . It was his footage that was shown at the extraordinary session of the Azerbaijani parliament. The locality where Mustafayev had filmed the corpses was under Azerbaijani control, or more precisely, under the control of armed units of the Popular Front – this can be clearly seen from the footage. It is a fact that the corpses had been mutilated before the second time Mustafayev filmed on March 2 nd . Mustafayev informed Mutalibov of this. It was President Mutalibov, incidentally, who had sent him to film the scene. According to certain information, Mutalibov warned: “Chingiz, don't say a word to anyone that something is wrong, or they will kill you.” The area where the corpses were mutilated was at a distance of a few hundred meters from the positions of the Popular Front and was easily controlled by snipers. Mustafayev simply would not have been able to film in those areas if they had they been under the control of the Karabakh forces.

A few months later Mustafayev was killed while doing routine filming inside a sector of military operations controlled by the military units of the Popular Front. Why he was killed is still debated. The Karabakh side insists that Mustafayev was a victim of Khojaly. Both Mutalibov and Mustafayev firmly believed that the Popular Front had tried to come to power by taking advantage of the Khojaly tragedy. This is what happened immediately after Khojaly, and what is more, it was Mustafayev's footage that was used to accuse Mutalibov.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Azerbaijani parliament building to demand Ayaz Mutalibov's resignation. During the March 5, 1992 extraordinary session of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan, Elmira Kafarova submitted her resignation and the Dean of the Medical Department at Baku University, Yaghub Mamedov, was elected speaker of parliament. The demonstrators kept the parliament building under siege, holding parliament members inside. Mutalibov called the unfolding events a “coup d'etat”. On March 6 th he resigned and Mamedov became the acting president until the presidential election was held.

This is how Mutalibov commented on these events: “My resignation was forced. I had no intention of leaving but when I realized that everything had been scrupulously planned and the left and the right had united against the president I decided not to provoke confrontation.” The retired president believed that following his resignation the Karabakh issue would be speculated on within the internal political struggle and the further spread of war would become irreversible. “The Popular Front blamed us for not being able to solve the Karabakh problem. And now they have to give the people assurances that they are able to solve it. There are two ways: either more resolute actions, since I was blamed for indecision, or a compromise… Suppose, they succeed in uniting all our forces. In that case all this could turn into a large-scale war without any clarity regarding who is going to win, though no one in Azerbaijan wants to fight anymore.”

Tatul Hakobyan