THE WAR

By Ismayil Abdulazimov 

This site is dedicated to all those who lost their lives in the massacres commited by Armenians in Anatolia and Azerbaijan

The latest conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan started in February of 1988 and lasts already for more than a decade. In a short time this conflict was aggravated and turned a real war. Azerbaijani Republic plunged into the war when it still was a constituency of the Soviet Union and keeps struggling as an independent state now. From the viewpoint of International Law the conflict is the result of aggression of neighboring Armenian Republic, who made timely preparations for the war in military, political, economic, propagandist, ideological, psychological and other spheres. And the command for aggression was the actions of Armenian separatist groups in Karabakh, who declared separation of this region from Azerbaijan. The tasks of Armenian agressors in the conflict, carried out by force, are the following: alteration of existing borders, occupation and subsequent annexation of Karabakh and adjacent Azeri territories.

The first clashes between Armenians and Azeris took place in February of 1988, when Armenian separatists demanded eviction of Azeris from just the very Azeri villages and when leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) attempted to separate this province from Azerbaijan and join Armenia. In a number of regions these clashes turned into large-scale civil disorders, resulting by death of many innocent Azeris. In late November of 1988 military detachments of Armenian Republic conducted the first in this conflict and the forth in the 20th century large-scale ethnic cleansing deporting over 200,000 Azeris (including women, children, the old) from the places of compact living of Azeris in Armenia.

Incompetent actions of Moscow and the general crisis of USSR persuaded the leaders of separatist movement in NKAO and nationalistic organizations of Armenia in possibility and necessity to carry out the plan of forceful separation of Karabakh from Azerbaijan. And the ultimate goal was ousting the Azeri population from Karabakh, forming a new ethnic situation, and subsequent annexation of Karabakh by Armenia. Since 1988 all political activities of Armenia in all regional and international levels were aimed to realization of these goals. After Armenia actually escaped the control of Moscow, they managed to shift a number of industrial plants to production of primitive models of weapons. These arms and ammunition were secretly transferred to Karabakh; secret military formations of Armenian Republic tried to occupy other territories of Azerbaijan.

The aggressive policy of Armenian Republic resulted by occupation of over 20% of Azerbaijani territory. 120,000 people perished, over 250,000 wounded, 4,000 POWs or missing without trace. Over 1,100,000 Azeris left their homes and became refugees. The material damage, made by Armenian forces, is estimated for $60 billions. During the aggression 10 towns (Khankendi, Shusha, Lachin, Kelbejar, Agdam, Fizuli, Gubadli, Zangilan, Jabrayil, Agdere), 876 villages, 113,000 houses, 191 hospitals, 693 schools, 700 public building, 160 bridges were destroyed; 5,446 children became orphans. 800 km of roads, 2,300 km of water pipelines was destroyed. Nevertheless this is the JUST WAR for Azerbaijan.

source: http://www.armenianreality.com/massacres_in_azerbaijan/the_war_in_azerbaijan.html