YEREVAN. – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has distorted the reality once again and put the whole legal-political responsibility of the Khojalu tragic events to Armenia’s and Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities, Armenian Parliament Deputy Speaker Edward Sharmazanov said. 

“As Aliyev at that time was in Istanbul to flourish his business and not in the war field, he hardly can be aware of the whole truth in the Khojalu tragic events. The reality is that the Armenian side had to liberate Khojalu to neutralize the military base for the local Armenian population. Armenian side has provided a humanitarian corridor for the city population to leave the city and informed about it beforehand to the then Azerbaijani authorities. Azerbaijani former President Ayaz Mutalibov, shortly after his resignation, said that the corridor was indeed secured by the Armenians for the Azerbaijani peaceful population to leave and ten years after his resignation confirmed his words adding the Khojalu population shootings were organized by [Azerbaijani] powers who want to shift the authority in Azerbaijan.

Besides, Azerbaijani lawyer Arif Yunusov said that “the city and its population served as deliberate victims for a political goal.” Whereas former head of Azerbaijani Supreme Council Tamerlan Karayev stressed “the tragedy was perpetrated by the Azerbaijani authorities.”

The aforesaid facts testify that it is Azerbaijani side to be blamed for the death of the Khijalu peaceful population. It has made a monstrous crime against own people due to political intrigues and struggle for authority,” Sharmazanov’s response reads.