Azerbaijan says Armenian bombing on Ganja ‘must not go unpunished'

Armenia's bombardment of Azerbaijan’s Ganja with ballistic missiles, despite it being far from where Armenian-Azerbaijani hostilities took place, must not go unpunished, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Monday.

In a post on his official Twitter account, Bayramov wrote: “One year has passed since Armenia subjected the second largest city of Azerbaijan, Ganja, to missile fire. This inhuman crime must not go unpunished. It is with deep sorrow that we pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the crimes committed by Armenia.”

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27 last year, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the war, Yerevan subjected Ganja, Barda, Yevlakh, Beylagan, Tartar, Gabala, Goranboy, Aghjabadi, Khizi, and other cities and districts of Azerbaijan to missile and artillery fire.

As a result of the military aggression by Armenia, 93 Azerbaijani civilians were killed, including 12 children and 27 women. As many as 454 people were injured, including 35 children. Some 181 children lost one parent, while five kids lost both their parents. In total, 12,292 residential and non-residential buildings and 288 vehicles were damaged.

A criminal case has been launched into the death of every civilian in Azerbaijan caused by Armenian terror, and appeals have been sent to international courts and organizations.