A commemoration meeting dedicated to 25th anniversary of the Khojaly massacre was held at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS). At the beginning of the meeting, one minute's silence in remembrance of Khojaly tragedy victims and all Azerbaijani sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives for freedom and integrity of their homeland was observed.
Opening the ceremony, the BHOS rector Elmar Gasimov said that the Khojaly genocide would remain in Azerbaijani history as one of most cruel crimes against humanity in the twentieth century. He reminded that upon an initiative of the national leader Heydar Aliyev the Azerbaijan government and Parliament took all possible steps to convey the truth about the Khojaly genocide and brutal actions, which were perpetrated by Armenian nationalists, to the international community. The rector emphasized that the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev continues to take efforts to restore justice for Khojaly genocide.
Associate professor of the BHOS English Language and Humanitarian Disciplines Centre Alemdar Shahverdiyev told about historical contest of the Khojaly tragedy and the special place it occupies in the Azerbaijani history. He spoke about the crime against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly committed at the night from 25th to 26th February of 1992 by the Armenian armed forces backed by the 366th moto-artillery regiment of the former Soviet army. The town was burnt to the ground. As a result of this act of genocide, 613 people out of 2,500 Khojaly residents were killed including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly. Eight families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parent, while 25 lost both parents; 487 people including 76 children became disabled, 1275 residents were taken hostage and 150 civilians went missing.
BHOS fourth-year Petroleum Engineering student Shamsi Musayev and fourth-year Chemical Engineering student Fuad Alizadeh made reports about history of Khojaly, the Khojaly massacre’s causes and its consequences. They called on all Azerbaijan youth to join efforts in order to bring those responsible for Khojaly tragedy to justice and disseminate truth about the genocide to international community. The second-year Chemical Engineering student Nazperi Isfandiyarova and second-year Petroleum Engineering student Gurban Hasanov recited poems dedicated to the one of the most tragic pages in the Azerbaijani history.
At the end, a video with BHOS students’ participation was demonstrated. It included their short, but emotional speeches in English language about the Khojaly genocide as well as photos and images of the tragic events in Khojaly at the night of 26 February 1992.