BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.26
Trend:
Actions of Armenian armed forces in Khojaly city of Azerbaijan were supposed to spread fear and terror among the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh and drive them to flee, statement of Azerbaijan’s embassy in Germany said, Trend reports with reference to the APA-OTS news agency where the statement was published.
The statement said that on the night of Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi attacked and completely destroyed the Azerbaijani city of Khojaly.
As a result of the attack, 613 civilians were murdered, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly, over 1,000 people were taken hostage and 150 people are still missing.
“The peaceful population was subjected to the outrageous massacre - children, women, the elderly, and the sick were killed with incredible brutality and mercilessness,” the embassy wrote.
The statement highlighted that the brutality of the armed forces of Armenia in destruction of Khojaly city was documented by international media, whereas Human Rights Watch described the tragedy in Khojaly as ‘the biggest massacre during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’.
"Armenia’s responsibility for the massacre is confirmed by an interview by the then Armenia’s President Serj Sarkisyan to the British journalist Thomas de Waal for his book ‘Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War’. As reported Sarkisyan said during the interview: “Before Khojaly , Azerbaijanis believed that Armenians would not use violence against civilians. But we were able to break this stereotype"," reads the article.
“Every year the Azerbaijani people commemorate the victims of the Khojaly massacre. The Justice for Khojaly campaign was launched in 2008 with the aim of sensitizing the international public to this massacre. As part of this campaign, various memorial events are organized around the world each year. As a result of this campaign, the Khojaly massacre is being recognized as such by more and more states and international organizations. Some 14 countries around the world, including European countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina have condemned this massacre,” the statement said.
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.
During the Karabakh war, 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.