Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 24
Trend:
Humanity was killed in Khojaly 24 years ago, says Necdet Unuvar, chairman of the Turkey-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group at Turkey's Grand National Assembly.
Khojaly is a pain and sorrow of Turkic people, he said, Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported Feb. 24.
Unuvar also said he will make every effort to inform the world about the Khojaly realities.
On Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian military, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi, committed genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. Among those 613 killed in the massacre, there were 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people.
Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. A total of 487 civilians became disabled as a result of the onslaught. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.
The event became the largest massacre in the course of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.