Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26
By Samir Ali – Trend:
The Khojaly genocide is an example of cruelty, ruthlessness and impunity in the modern world, Azerbaijani MP Elman Nasirov told Trend Feb. 26.
He added that the Armenians have not been punished for the committed atrocities yet.
"The Khojaly tragedy showed that at the end of the 20th century the Armenian executioners purposefully committed this crime against the Azerbaijani population because they were Azerbaijanis, Khojaly people,” Nasirov said. “Therefore this genocide is a crime. Khojaly residents were killed because they were Azerbaijani Turks.”
The Azerbaijani government worked much to update the world about Khojaly genocide, as well as realized various projects to recognize it.
"To recognize this tragedy, after coming to power in 1993, Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev immediately appealed to the UN Security Council, disclosed the essence of the Khojaly genocide and called on the entire world community to take actions against the occupiers," he said. “In February 1994, the Azerbaijani parliament assessed this tragedy politically and legally.”
“In 1998, Heydar Aliyev signed a decree on the Khojaly genocide,” Nasirov said. “Later, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva worked much in this sphere.”
“In particular, "Justice for Khojaly!" campaign, which started on the initiative of Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, which was launched in 2008, caused great resonance worldwide,” he said. “Thanks to this campaign, the parliaments of ten countries, 22 US states recognized the Khojaly tragedy as genocide."
Nasirov said that sooner or later the perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide will be punished.
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.
On Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.