In a televised address to the nation on 20 September Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has promised “integration” to Armenians in Karabakh.
“They are our citizens,” said the Azerbaijani leader. He also promised to prosecute members of the Artsakh government who allegedly were involved in the Khojaly massacre of 1992, terming them as “leaders of the criminal regime.”
He also welcomed Yerevan’s position in the recent escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh, calling it “politically sound”. Aliyev added: “We appreciate it and view it as an important factor”
To remind, the Khojaly was a town inside Nagorno-Karabakh inhabited by Meskhetian Turks from Central Asia, who came under cross-fire between Artsakh and Azerbaijani forces in a military operation. Former Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov on several occasions invariably admitted that Armenian forces had left a corridor for evacuating civilians from the town.
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