It was the massive bombardment of the Getashen and Martunashen villages on 30 April 1991 that launched the “Ring” Operation, which became the prelude to the large-scale military aggression that Azerbaijan later unleashed against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

According to the press service of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the operation, Armenian villages were first surrounded by the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and the subdivisions of the Soviet army. Later, the Azerbaijani OMON and police forces would enter the villages to “check passports”, but in reality they would murder, rob, terrorize and displace the Armenian population.

The “Ring” Operation continued in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other settlements of Azerbaijan between 1988 and 1991, and turned into ethnic cleansing in the villages of Northern Artsakh that were aimed at destroying the national liberation struggle that the Armenians of Artsakh had launched and deprive them of their homeland. The Azerbaijani leadership didn’t hide the fact that it viewed the Ring Operation as the start of the process of emptying the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The operation carried out with the use of tanks, military jets and artillery completely deserted and destroyed over 20 villages of Northern Artsakh, as well as the Shahumyan, Hadrut and Shushi regions. About 10,000 people were displaced, over 100 were killed, and several hundreds of people were taken hostage. The destinies of most of them remain unknown to this day.

Twenty five years later, on 2 April 2016, the Azerbaijani leadership unleashed another military aggression against the NKR which, as in 1991, was carried out with several violations of the norms of international humanitarian law and military crimes perpetrated against the peaceful civilians and military servicemen of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, including with bombardments of peaceful settlements, murders of civilians, as well as the disrespect towards and torture of the bodies of the deceased.

However, as in 1991, all the attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to terrorize and destroy the people of Artsakh, drown their aspiration for freedom and eventually deprive them of their homeland completely failed.

The criminal behavior of Azerbaijan only reinforces the determination of the people of Artsakh to shape and strengthen their free and independent state as the guarantee for their security and peaceful existence. The understanding of the international community of this fact and, as a result of that, the international recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will allow putting an end to Azerbaijan’s continuous attempts to eliminate Artsakh and the people of Artsakh and will ensure peace and security in the whole region.