Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 17 / Trend M.Aliyev /
Within the "Justice for Khojaly" campaign request regarding the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy and the document with million signatures of the country's citizens to recognize Khojaly genocide have been sent to the Dutch Parliament, the Azerbaijani Embassy in the Netherlands said on Friday.
Representatives of "Justice for Khojaly" campaign functioning in the Netherlands, "Azerbaijani society of friends of Netherlands" together with other activists of the Azerbaijani diaspora held meetings with chairman of the Dutch parliament's committee on foreign relations MP Nebahat Albayrak, secretary of this committee Van Tuur, representative of the Netherlands' Labour Party MP Jeroen de Lange and representative of the party of Christian democrats MP Joshkun Geruz.
Chairman of the local coordinating committee of "Justice for Khojaly" campaign, national hero of the Netherlands, a knight of the Royal Order of Orange-Nassau Geert Van Dam provided detailed information about the Khojaly genocide and demanded to punish the persons responsible for this international crime committed by Armenians against Azerbaijani civilians 20 years ago, and expressed the hope that this tragedy will be included in the agenda of the Dutch Parliament. At the end of the speech Geert Van Dam, providing MPs with book "Karabakh", asked the parliament of the Netherlands and the Dutch public to support the restoration of based on European values justice for the Khojaly genocide.
If historians have not proved the century-old unknown events associated with the Armenians, the Netherlands and the international community should give the legal and political assessment of the proven atrocities committed 20 years ago in Khojaly, executive director of 'Azerbaijani Society of Friends of the Netherlands' Marion van der Vegt said at the meeting.
Gert van Dam and Marion van der Vegt presented a paper with the collected signatures "One Million Signatures - one desire," which demands to give political and legal assessment of the Khojaly genocide and expressed the hope that the Nagorno-Karabakh and other Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia will be liberated and that the Dutch Parliament will contribute to the restoration of peace and human rights in the region.
The Armenian military forces committed genocide in Khojaly on Feb.26, 1992. More than 600 people were killed, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old men. Some 487 civilians were disabled during the genocide. In addition, 1,275 peaceful residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.