Baroness Cox: That Was a Cold Blooded Slaughter of Civilians in
Maragha 20 Years Ago
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012 | Posted by admin
Maragha was one of the largest villages of Nagorno Karabakh. On April
10, 1992, the Azeri’ `omon’ forces invaded the village and set it
ablaze, burning and torturing it s peaceful population, some of whom
were taken hostage never to be returned again! While those who
survived left behind their belongings and spread throughout the world.
Today, Maragha still remains under Azeri control.
Following is Panorama.am interview with Baroness Caroline Cox, who
witnessed the aftermath of atrocities in Maragha.
Panorama.am: My first question goes into your memories, Honorable
Baroness. You have been to Maragha village right after the mass
atrocities of April 10, 1992 – 20 years ago, when the village and its
inhabitants were wiped out by the Azeri militia and the army. Do you
have any untold memories to share?
Baroness Cox: Indeed, too many memories. We were in Stepanakert
[then], and we heard there was an attack to the village, called
Maragha. We immediately went out there on the day itself. Homes were
still burning, still smoldering. We saw the evidence of the atrocities
which had been carried out. I saw human bodies, beheaded. We had to do
very unhappy thing of asking the local villagers if they would mind us
to take photographic evidence of the bodies that they started to bury…
I have one in front of me at the moment… And I also have a photograph
in front of me of a villager holding an ear of his Armenian friend,
which had been cut off by Azeris. So the horror was there. We also met
some women, who survived, with photographs of their loved ones taken
from their smoldering homes in order to have memories of their
families who perished…
Panorama.am: I want to ask you to touch upon the international
campaign of the Governments of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to bring
in international outcry on the atrocity. What has been done so far,
and what do you think should be done in this regards?
Baroness Cox: Ever since I witnessed the atrocities of what happened
in Maragha, I have been urging the Armenian Government and [Nagorno]
Karabakh Government to get the story told to the international
community, to raise this as a really serious example of Azeri crimes
against humanity. What happened in Maragha was a serious [crime] in
terms of cold blooded slaughter of civilians with decapitation and
burning.
The Government of Nagorno Karabakh has indeed published an account of
what happened in Maragha. I think the Governments of Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh should make efforts to place it on the news screens
of international community: it was an absolutely horrendous, cold
blooded crime, a deliberate slaughter of innocent civilians in a
brutal way. And I think the Armenian Government really should be
making it an international issue, and taking Azerbaijan into
international arena, to get this horrible situation on the record, and
Azerbaijan called to international accountability.
What happened in Maragha is an untold truth, and needs to be told both
for justice and for the people of Maragha who suffered so much, their
survivors shall know that justice is done, and Azerbaijan to be
brought to account for that apparent crime against humanity.
Panorama.am: Following up on what you just mentioned, considering
there was no any `military necessity’ to wage an attack on Maragha,
and it was quite away from the war scene, can we claim it was a war
crime and/or a crime against humanity, as you phrased it?
Baroness Cox: It is certain that what I saw was clearly an apparent
crime against humanity, which needs investigation. I saw a bloody
slaughter against innocent civilians, innocent villagers. Armenia
really needs to make a case for recognition of that as a crime against
humanity.
Panorama.am: Few days ago when the Armenian MPs were visiting Baku for
Euronest part session, Mr Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, called
them `fascists’. In an earlier statement he proclaimed `world
Armenians are the enemy number one for Azerbaijan’. Judging from the
current totalitarian regime of Mr Aliyev and his family, do you think
international recognition of NKR is a best measure towards new
atrocity prevention?
Baroness Cox: I think there are the `Madrid Principles’, which are on
the table, which I think is agreed by the international community as
an appropriate way forward. They would give the Armenians of Nagorno
Karabakh the right to self determination and for secession, and it
should be internationally recognized in the same way as other valid
recognitions of the right of self determination and secession have
been granted to the people that had been subjected or attempted to
ethnic cleansing. There is no doubt that Azerbaijan had the intent
upon ethnic cleansing upon the Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh.
The President [Abdulfaz] Elcibey once said his `famous’ statement that
if a single Armenian was left alive in Karabakh by next October, then
the people of Azerbaijan could take him and hang at the centre square
of Baku. This was a pretty forceful statement of ethnic cleansing. The
whole policy of the Operation `Ring’ was a tacit example of ethnic
cleansing. So they have the right, I believe, for self determination
and secession, the same was as any other minority group in a country
where the regime of that country is trying to exterminate them
physically and culturally.
Panorama.am: The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
(ECRI) report last year alarmed, that it’s unsafe to show Armenian
identity in Azerbaijan, as the person would risk getting into huge
troubles, to put it in a smooth way. What steps shall the
international community undertake for easing the human rights and
freedoms issue there, and eventually – for denazification of
Azerbaijan?
Baroness Cox: Well, I think, Azerbaijan is a country that carries out
oppressive measures such as, as we all know, inhibitions on the
freedom of speech. I think, there has been somebody who tried to tell
the truth about Khojaly, and he had been imprisoned. Any attempt of
inhibition of telling the truth is a fundamental violation of the
fundamental human right of freedom of speech. Any country which
contravenes those fundamental human rights, as defined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should be called into account,
and there should be measures taken against this. So I think there need
to be recognition, and much more robust calling into account to
Azerbaijan for its human rights violations against its own people
today, who are suffering an absence of any respect towards their human
rights. Azerbaijan human rights record is extremely unsatisfactory.
Panorama.am: Thank you very much indeed, Baroness, for this interview.
Baroness Cox: Please pass over assurances of my thoughts and prayers
to the people of Maragha, and let them know that I will make all
possible to make the world knowing the truth.
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