Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 January / Trend corr. E.Huseynov / The municipality of the Turkish border Igdir province will hold a conference in Berlin on 24 January, dedicated to the Khojali tragedy committed in 1992 in Azerbaijan. "All preparations for the event have been completed," Nuraddin Aras, the chairman of Igdir municipality, reported Trend.
On the night of 25 to 26 February 1992, with the assistance of the Russian 366th regiment, Armenian armed forces committed genocide in Khojali in which hundreds of Azerbaijani civilians lost their lives. In addition, thousands of people were injured and many are still missing.
The aim of the event is to inform the world of the truth of the Khojali genocide, as well as to further educate the members of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora organizations about the tragedy," Aras stated. "The international community must recognize who committed the genocide," he added. Invitations to participate at the conference were sent to all members of the German Parliament and leading media.
Rauf DEnktash, the ex-President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, and Yusuf Havacaoglu, the director of the Turkish History and Language Institute, have been invited to the conference. A range of representatives from Turkey, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) of Azerbaijan and Baku are expected to take part in the conference in Berlin.
The Igdir municipality which borders with Azerbaijan staged similar events in the Hague in 2007. "We will keep implementing such events in different countries in the future," the Igdir municipality chief stated. Armenians have already committed genocide towards the Turks at the beginning of 21st Century. The Khojali tragedy was committed 16 years ago in the eyes of the international community.
The Armenian Diaspora are attempting to pass a resolution by the world Parliaments and for the recognition of genocide committed by the Turks against the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1918. Beginning from 1918 many mass burials were discovered in the east regions of Turkey, including Igdir of Turkish people who were killed at the beginning of the previous century. The hostilities were committed as a result of territorial interests by the Armenians.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988, due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding the peaceful negotiations.