“During the occupation, not a single building was left in Aghdam. Neither in the city nor in the villages under occupation. All buildings were demolished, stones were looted, taken away, and sold in markets. The main purpose of this was to destroy the cities so that Azerbaijanis would never return.”
“Elchi” reports that President Ilham Aliyev said these words during his meeting with participants of international conferences in Baku.
According to the President, this was the first goal: “The second goal was, of course, greed, that is, looting. They took those demolished stones, the roofing of the buildings, the frames – everything – even the tombstones. Then they would erase the names on those tombstones of the deceased and sell them in markets as marble or granite. We were faced with such unprecedented looting. They even dug up graves and pulled out the gold teeth of the deceased.”
The head of state noted that the world should know all this: “The world turned a blind eye to this for 30 years. The major powers behind Armenia, including and primarily the co-chair countries of the infamous Minsk Group, wanted to cover up all these actions. Armenia did not allow any foreign observers into the occupied territories. However, they brought some bought-off politicians and public figures from the West and other countries to show them how they lived there. But international organizations remained silent. The United Nations, which had adopted four Security Council resolutions stating that Armenian armed forces must withdraw from the occupied territories, remained silent; the OSCE remained silent. The Council of Europe effectively supported the occupation. The European Parliament has always supported the occupying Armenia, and it is still the same today. This is a small description of the attitude towards us. See who we were facing; Armenia was not alone. If Armenia had been alone, this issue would have been resolved long ago. Or, if international sanctions had been imposed on Armenia at that time for this occupation, this savagery, and this genocide, the issue would have been resolved long ago. They did not do it, deliberately and intentionally. Now, whether appropriate or not, sanctions are imposed everywhere. But well, Armenia seized 20 percent of another state’s territory here, expelled 700,000 people from there, expelled 250,000 people – Azerbaijanis – from Armenia, and destroyed everything, all the cities. Why don’t you impose sanctions on it? This means double standards. Where do these double standards come from? It is clear. In any case, they do not come from the Islamic world. Therefore, we all must know this.”