Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 28 /Trend/
A memorial conference dedicated to the 19th anniversary of Khojaly Massacre was held at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC on February 25. For a second year in a row, the event was organized jointly by Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC), Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA), Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), Turkish Student Association (GWU-TSA), and the American Turkish Association of Washington, DC (ATA-DC).
In his introductory speech, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the U.S., H.E. Yashar Aliyev, called the audience for a moment of silence in memory of the victims of Khojaly Massacre. He further thanked the organizers and emphasized that the awareness of Khojaly tragedy is increasing with every year. Ambassador Aliyev noted that in February 2011, four Members of House offered Congressional remarks recognizing and remembering the victims of Khojaly massacre, AAC told Trend today.
The event featured a 2006 documentary film "The 1992 Khojaly Genocide" and four panel speakers: Montana State University professor and AAC Board Director, Thomas Goltz; Deputy Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations, Tofig Musayev; the ATAA President-Elect and Pax Turcica Institute (PTI) Board Director, Ergun Kirlikovali; and the ASA Executive Director, Dr. Javid Huseynov.
Speaking first, Thomas Goltz shared his experience as a witness and provided own interpretation of the Khojaly massacre. He suggested the book "My Brother's Road" by Markar Melkonian, written based on a diary of his brother, ASALA terrorist and Armenian military commander in Karabakh War, Monte Melkonian, as the most vivid account of what transpired in Khojaly and other atrocities of Karabakh war. Thomas Goltz also offered suggestions to improve the awareness of the tragedy worldwide by emphasizing the existing gravity of the crime rather than pursuit of its genocidal intent.
The second panel speaker, Tofig Musayev, talked about the possible legal interpretations of Khojaly Massacre as a crime against humanity. He drew comparisons between Khojaly and the war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia, specifically the 1995 Srebrenica massacre which was identified by the International Criminal Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as an act of genocide in 2004 and 2007 respectively.
Further, Ergun Kirlikovali of ATAA/PTI presented facts and figures about the forced migrations and massacres of Muslims and Turks in Anatolia and Caucasus during and after the World War I. He emphasized that similar to Khojaly case, these mass deportations and killings of millions of people stayed outside of Western attention due to obvious bias.
In conclusion of the event, Dr. Huseynov of ASA/AAC indicated that in case of Srebrenica massacre, there was a redemption, when in March 2010, the Parliament of Serbia asked a formal apology for its failure to prevent the genocide of Bosnian Muslims. In contrast, in the case of Khojaly, Armenian government continues to formally deny its involvement despite the magnitude of evidence pointing to its primary role in the massacre. He further pointed out that regardless of the final legal definition of Khojaly tragedy, it is a crime without prosecution, and the objective in conducting the Khojaly campaign in the U.S. is to increase awareness and to force Armenian government to recognize its involvement and responsibility for the war crime.
As the leading organizers of Khojaly Memorial Week, AAC and ASA express their gratitude to GWU-TSA, ATA-DC, ATAA and the Turkish-American community for being active participants of the Khojaly commemorative events throughout the U.S.
613 people were killed, 1,000 peaceful people of different age became invalid during Khojaly genocide. 106 women, 63 children, 70 old men were killed. Eight families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parents, while 25 both of them.1,275 peace residents were taken hostages, while the fate of 150 of them is still unknown.