Edmon Marukyan, the Ambassador-at-Large of Armenia, publicized the original proof the interview of the first president of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov, published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta in 1992, with respect to the events that had occurred in Khojaly.

“The first President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov stated that ‘The assault on Khojaly was not a surprise attack’. In an interview in 1992 with the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta he emphasized that ‘a corridor was kept open by the Armenians for people to leave’. However, a column of civilians was fired on by armed units of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan on the approaches to the Agdam district border, a fact later confirmed by Ayaz Mutalibov, who linked this criminal act with attempts of the opposition to remove him from power, and blamed his opponents entirely for what happened. In his interview with the Russian magazine Novoye Vremya Mutalibov stated that ‘the shooting of the Khojaly residents was obviously organized by someone to take control in Azerbaijan,’” Marukyan wrote on X—former Twitter.