وذكر رئيس أذربيجان السابق أياز مطالبوف أن “الهجوم على خوجالي لم يكن هجوما مفاجئا” ().
Former President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov has stated that “the assault on Khojaly was not a surprise attack”.2 In a Nezavisimaya gazeta newspaper interview he emphasized that “a corridor was kept open by the Armenians for people to leave”.3 However, a column of civilians was fired on by armed units of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan on the approaches to the Agdam district border, a fact later confirmed by Ayaz Mutalibov, who linked this criminal act to attempts by the opposition to remove him from power, and blamed it entirely for what happened.