Presidential aide: Armenia still fails to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable

Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev, expressed his concerns following the recent discovery of mass graves in the village of Syrkhavand of Aghdam district. 

In his post on X (formerly Twitter) platform, he underscored Armenia's responsibility to investigate war crimes and ensure those responsible are brought to justice, Caliber.Az reports.

"New mass graves have been discovered in Sırkhavand village of Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation. One of the most severe consequences of Armenia’s 30 year long military aggression against Azerbaijan is the fate of missing persons. More than 4,000 Azerbaijanis were tortured to death in concentration camps and buried in mass graves by Armenia. To this day, Armenia has not punished a single individual responsible for these crimes. Instead they were glorified and rewarded. Armenia hides all date and information about the location of mass graves," Hajiyev stated.

He further called on Armenia to demonstrate a genuine commitment to transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation by acknowledging state responsibility for all of these crimes and investigating and punishing all war criminals accordingly.

Since the 2020 liberation of Azerbaijani territories, searches have uncovered numerous mass and individual graves in regions such as Khojaly, Khojavand, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, and near Shusha. To date, the remains of at least 500 individuals have been discovered in these sites, including villages like Bashlibel, Edilli, Farrukh, Sarijali, Seyidahmadli, and areas surrounding Shusha prison.

Experts in Baku suggest that more mass graves of Azerbaijani victims may be uncovered across the liberated territories, further highlighting the scale of the war crimes committed by Armenian forces during the First Karabakh War. The discovery of these graves serves as stark evidence of the atrocities and genocidal actions carried out during that conflict.

By Tamilla Hasanova