France, Strasbourg, June 24 / Trend , A. Maharramli/
Member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) urged international organization to pay more attention to violation of refugees' rights.
"Despite UN Security Council and PACE resolutions, nearly 1 million people can not return to their lands for more than 15 years. Can there be more gross violation of human rights? We urge international organization to pay more attention to these problems," member of Azerbaijani delegation Ganira Pashayeva said during her speech at the PACE summer session.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Pashayeva said unfortunately those who have committed crimes against civilians have not held accountable yet. "Thousands of Azerbaijani civilians were brutally killed during occupation of Azerbaijani lands by the Armenian troops and a bloody tragedy took place in Khojali. Hundreds of children, women and old people were brutally killed in the city of Khojali. Documents of international organization contain this information. You can also get detailed information about it in archives of world-famous media outlets," she said.
Pashayeva said Azerbaijan is searching for those who committed these crimes via Interpol. Unfortunately, there are no results yet. "None of them have been held accountable yet. Because, Yerevan ignores even international organization and provides refuge to these persons," she said.
Pashayeva read out a small extract from the book by Zory Balayan "Revival of Our Spirit" published in 1996. "This is awful that the man proudly writes about the genocide against Azerbaijanis and of his participation in it. He writes: "When I and Khachaturyan entered one of the seized homes, our soldiers nailed 13-year-old child to the wall. Then I took off the skin of the chest, abdomen and scalp of the child. Then I looked at my watch. The child died from loss of blood seven minutes later. Then Khachatur cut part of the body of the already dead child. We did the same thing with three more Turkish children in that evening. I fulfilled my duty as a true Armenian patriot."
Pashayeva said the person who were directly involved with the Khojaly genocide is wanted by the Interpol. "However, he still comfortably lives in Armenia. In fact, despite the fact that dozens of people, who participated in the bloody tragedy in Khojaly, are wanted by the Interpol, they are quietly living in Armenia under the patronage of Yerevan. We urge the international organizations pay more attention to such issues. We must not forget that "one crime with impunity will necessarily lead to another," she said.
On the night of February 25, 1992, Armenian separatists seized the Khojali city with 7,000 populations. Only 3,000 people were left in the city during the occupation.
Due to the blockade of the city, which lasted more than four months, the majority of the population had to leave it. The genocide in Khojaly killed 613 people and disabled 1,000. Total of 63 were children, 106 women and 70 elderly people. Eight families were completely destroyed, 25 children lost both parents and 130 one of the parents. On the night of the tragedy 1,275 people were taken hostage and 150 went missing.
Pashayeva said there are hundreds of Azerbaijani captives and hostages today in Armenia. "Despite the efforts of Azerbaijan and the Red Cross Society, Armenia has refused to release them from captivity for several years. They are subject to torture. I want to show you a picture of a child, which were released from Armenian captivity for some time. Only one picture shows how hundreds of prisoners and hostages are tortured in Armenia. Is this not a flagrant violation of human rights? We urge international organizations to a more active and tough fight against such gross violations of human rights," she said.
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