Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 24 /Trend, T.Jafarov/
Iranian-Azerbaijani inter-parliamentary friendship group should include in the agenda and study the issue of genocide in Khojaly, the spokesperson of the Iranian Parliament's national security and foreign policy commission Kazim Jalali told Trend on Friday.
Armenian troops committed genocide in Khojali on Feb. 26, 1992. The tragedy began early morning. Within hours, over 613 unarmed Azerbaijani citizens were killed. Among them were 106 women and 83 children. About 1,000 people were disabled by shots; 8 families were fully destroyed. A total of 25 children lost both of their parents and 130 children lost one of them. About 1,275 people were taken prisoner and around 150 people went missing. Eight families were completely killed.
According to Jalali, some forces in and out the region are trying to use the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for the deterioration of the Iranian-Azerbaijani relations.
"The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should not cast a shadow on the Iran-Azerbaijan relations," said Jalali.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces 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 peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.