Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.26 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Turkey will never forget nor allow the forgetting of the Khojaly genocide, TRT Haber TV channel quotes Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Tuesday.
He said Turkey shares Azerbaijan's grief in connection with the Khojaly events and expresses its solidarity with the Azerbaijani people.
Erdogan stressed that although from 21 years have passed since the Khojaly genocide was committed, perpetrators of this crime have not been punished and Azerbaijani lands are still under Armenian occupation.
On Feb. 25-26 February, 1992, Armenian occupation forces together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi (previously Stepanakert) committed an act of genocide towards the population of the Azerbaijani Khojaly town.
Some 613 people were killed including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old men. A total of 1000 civilians were disabled during the genocide. Eight families were killed, 130 children lost one parent and 25 lost both. Additionally, 1275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.