Armenia causes $818 billion material damage to Azerbaijan
Preliminary calculations show that the material damage caused by the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia’s Armed Forces amounts to $818.880 billion, Emil Tagiyev, head of the Special Investigation Department of the Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor’s Office, said on March 14.
He made the remarks while addressing a scientific and practical conference dedicated to the centennial of the genocide of Azerbaijanis of 1918.
Tagiyev said that so far, decisions have been made to bring to responsibility the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes, – in particular, 39 persons regarding the Khojaly genocide, 12 persons regarding the Garadagh genocide, 12 persons regarding the genocide in Baganis Ayrim village, 9 persons regarding the genocide in Mesheli village.
In addition, it was decided to bring to responsibility 47 persons regarding the genocide in Kerkijahan village, 35 persons regarding the facts of torture, three persons regarding the facts of terrorism, as well as 133 persons who committed premeditated murders, crimes related to banditry, etc., under articles 103 (genocide), 107 (deportation or forced relocation of population), 113 (use of torture), 115 (violation of the laws and customs of war) and 116 (violation of international humanitarian law during armed conflicts) of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, Tagiyev said.
He added that a preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen with respect to these persons, and relevant documents for their search were submitted to the INTERPOL National Central Bureau for Azerbaijan and the Interior Ministry.
Tagiyev noted that over 75,000 investigative actions were carried out, within which 5,000 people were questioned as injured persons or legal successors to legal entities, 6,000 people were questioned as witnesses, 18,236 people were recognized as plaintiffs, and over 1,000 different examinations were carried out.
He added that a comprehensive forensic examination was appointed to establish the caused material damage in line with international standards.
“Drawing of the conclusion was entrusted to the Working Group on the assessment of losses as a result of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by the Armenian Armed Forces,” Tagiyev said, adding that the work continues to bring to criminal responsibility those who participated and organized the listed crimes.
Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.
Since the beginning of the conflict and occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the Armenian aggressors destroyed 1,200 historical and architectural monuments, looted 27 museums, while over 100,000 items were exported to Armenia. Moreover, the Armenian occupiers destroyed 152 religious monuments and 62 mosques, 4.6 million books in 927 libraries, including the Holy Quran and rare Islamic manuscripts.
Azerbaijan's Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Elmira Suleymanova also addressed the conference dedicated to the genocide of Azerbaijanis in 1918. She said that the idea of creating a "great Armenian state" still exists and the aggression of Armenia, which ignores the international demands, continues.
“I hope the international community will react to this and this aggression will come to an end. Both the Khojaly genocide and the 1918 genocide of Azerbaijanis should be recognized by the international community,” the ombudsman said.
Suleymanova noted that the increasing support to Azerbaijan by the international community in recent years shows that the time has come for the settlement of the NagornoKarabakh conflict.
Noting that the genocide of Azerbaijanis in 1918 is a bloody page of Azerbaijan’s history, she said that documents related to the genocide should be presented to the international community.
The March genocide of 1918 was committed by the Armenian terrorist organization Dashnaktsutyun in an effort to establish an Armenian state on Azerbaijani territory through destroying the local ethnic population. Overall, as a result of the incessant and ruthless massacres unleashed by the Armenians in 1918-1920, tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis were killed and more than a million people were expelled from their native lands in Baku, Guba, Shamakhi, Lankaran, Kurdamir and Shusha, on the territory of Erivan province, Zangezur, Nakhchivan, Sharur, Ordubad, Kars and other regions.