BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 15. A special event will be held in the conference hall of the Grand National Assembly (parliament) of Türkiye to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, the statement of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Türkiye said, Trend reports.
According to the embassy, the event will take place on February 24, organized by the Turkish-Azerbaijani Friendship, Cooperation, and Solidarity Foundation (TADİV) with the support of Azerbaijan's diplomatic mission.
The Khojaly genocide is the gravest crime of genocide committed
against peaceful Azerbaijani people in the course of Armenia’s
aggressive war against Azerbaijan. Before this, as part of a
planned occupation, the peaceful population of the Baghanis Ayrim
village in Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region bordering Armenia and the
Azerbaijani-populated villages of Imarat-Garvand, Tug, Salakatin,
Akhullu, Khojavand, Jamilly, Nabilar, Meshali, Hasanabad,
Karkijahan, Gaybaly, Malibayli, Yukhari and Ashaghi Gushchular,
Garadaghli villages in Karabakh, were murdered with particular
cruelty. It is sufficient to note that just a few days before the
Khojaly genocide, on February 17, 1992, 80 Azerbaijanis were
massacred in the Garadaghli village in Khojavand.
The town of Khojaly was located in the strategically important part
of the Karabakh region in Azerbaijan. It is situated 10 km
south-east of Khankandi, between the Aghdam-Shusha and
Asgaran-Khankandi highways. The strategic importance lies in that
the only airport in the Karabakh region was located here. In the
second half of February 1992, Khojaly was under total siege by
Armenian military units, and any attempts by local civilians to
break the blockade were prevented.
On the night of 25-26 February 1992, in violation of all
international legal norms, Armenian armed forces attacked the
civilian population of the sieged town of Khojaly with heavy
military equipment, killing them with unprecedented brutality and
razing the town to the ground. As a result of crime against not
only the people of Azerbaijan but against humanity, 613 civilian
Azerbaijanis, including 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elders were
brutally murdered on grounds of national identity.