The 'Kolco' Operation Became Another Manifestation of Azerbaijan's Genocidal Policy: Artsakh Foreign Ministry

The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh has issued a statement marking the 30th anniversary of the 'Kolco' operation, which is presented below.

“Thirty years ago, on April 30, 1991, the authorities of Azerbaijan initiated the 'Kolco' (Ring) operation, which can rightly be considered one of the bloodiest and most inhumane acts of forcibly displacing populations from their historical lands. During this operation, tanks, military helicopters, and artillery were used against the civilian population for the first time. Hundreds of Armenian villages in Northern Artsakh, as well as in the regions of Shusha, Hadrut, and Shahumyan, were emptied and destroyed; tens of thousands of individuals were displaced, and hundreds were killed and abducted. The fate of many of them remains unknown to this day.

The 'Kolco' operation became yet another manifestation of Azerbaijan's genocidal policy and a continuation of the chain of massacres and ethnic cleansing against Armenians that occurred in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, and other Armenian-populated cities and regions of Azerbaijan during the years 1988-1991, as well as in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Northern Artsakh.

This escalated the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to a military level and later led to large-scale aggression by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh, which continues to this day. The military crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the 'Kolco' operation, the April War of 2016, and the 44-day war unleashed against Artsakh in 2020 with the support of Turkey and various terrorist groups, along with the gross violations of international humanitarian law, testify that the indifference and impunity towards crimes against humanity lead to their recurrence.”