“Operation Ring” and involvement of the Soviet Army

PanARMENIAN.Net - More than ten thousand Armenian villagers have been forced to leave Azerbaijan. Forty people have died, more than half Armenian civilians. Helsinki Watch has documented several instances of brutality, including rape, by the armed forces (especially Azerbaijani OMON troops) while Soviet army units stood by passively. Dozens of Armenians are still being held in Azerbaijani jails, although there are regular prisoner and hostage exchanges with the Azerbaijanis. Armenian officials claim that many of those detained are beaten and ill-treated.Operation Ring was particularly violent in the villages of Martunashen and Getashen in early May. According to Helsinki Watch interviews with Armenian deportees and officials, eighteen villagers were killed, and Martunashen was razed to the ground. According to Armenian officials, the deportations in mid-July from the villages of Erkedj, Manashid and Bouzloukh in Azerbaijan resulted in three deaths among the Azerbaijani MVD, many wounded, and the total dispersion of the population. In continued fighting in this area, 14 Azerbaijani OMON and one Armenian paramilitary fighter were killed in September.

On the day before the August 19 coup, the Soviet Army's 23 Division - which has a high percentage of Azerbaijani soldiers - as well as Azerbaijani OMON troops, conducted helicopter rocket attacks and directed artillery and machine gun fire at the large Armenian village of Verishen in Azerbaijani, near Karabakh. Two Armenian children were killed; there were deaths among Azerbaijani soldiers; and dozens of houses were burned. On August 27, the Armenian villages of Karachinar and Verishen again came under missile and artillery fire, injuring four Armenians.

Fighting did not end in September as word spread of possible peace talks, described below. Two Azerbaijani OMON troops and on Armenian fighter were killed in Verashen on September 14. On the next day, the Azerbaijani OMON opened heavy fire on Karachinar, killing one Armenian civilian. As negotiations reached a final phase on September 25, OMON troops attacked the village of Chapar, killing six Armenian civilians, including a boy of fourteen.

Getashen, which once was the home for 5000 people, for some time remained the last stronghold of Armenians. Earlier attacks were rebuffed but the soviet troops pushed out the residents of Azat and Kamo villages and Azerbaijanis came to inhabit their houses. It’s not accidental that the population of fours villages in Shushi region and fifteen villages in Hadrut region was deported.

Up to the present day, international organizations including the PACE, OSCE and others, fail to mention the tragic episode in the records on Nagorno Karabakh.