Exactly 32 years ago, on April 30, the “Oghak” operation began, whose name already testified to its punitive character. The main objective of the operation, which took place in several stages from April to August 1991, was to suppress by force the expression of the will of the people of Artsakh and to create the conditions for their emigration from their native land. From the very beginning, in Azerbaijan, almost openly, at the highest level, the idea that Armenians should be expelled from Artsakh, if they do not agree to submit to Azerbaijan, began to be expressed regularly.
In 1991 from March 25, Azerbaijani OMON started to regularly bombard the villages of Getashen and Martunashen. From April 16, the power supply in Shahumyan region was cut off, the telephone connection was disconnected. On April 19, the personnel of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR stationed in the village of Getashen was removed from the village. On April 21, at the request of Baku, regular Yerevan-Shahumyan helicopter flights were banned.
On April 30, the “Oghak” operation began with the massive shelling of the villages Getashen and Martunashen, during which tanks, helicopter gunships and artillery were used against the civilian population for the first time.
As a result of the operation, more than two dozen villages in northern Artsakh, as well as the regions of Shahumyan, Hadrut and Shushi were completely deserted and destroyed. The Oghak operation, characterized by extreme brutality and massive violations of human rights, has greatly increased the level of tension in the region and turned the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict into a military dimension.
Today we see how the crimes committed 30 years ago are repeated and remain unpunished, including military aggression, occupation of territories, killings, ethnic cleansing and terrorism against the people of Artsakh.
Today, the people of Artsakh are again in a loop, the blockade of Azerbaijan has been going on for more than 4 months, which, after having already officially closed the Berdzor corridor, is trying to place an illegal checkpoint in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping troops.
Today, we bow our heads once again to the memory of all the innocent victims of the brutal and criminal operation “Oghak” and urge once again the international community, and especially the United Nations Security Council, which is directly responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, to finally abandon the protocol by expressing concern about the nature of the wording and calls to both sides and to take urgent and practical measures to prevent the repetition of such atrocities and massive human rights violations, as well as criminal and genocidal acts, expansionist intentions of Azerbaijan towards Artsakh and Armenia.