Issue on Khojaly genocide raised in Australian Senate
By Rashid Shirinov
An Australian parliamentarian raised the issue of the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenian militaries against the civilian population of Azerbaijan in February 1992, at a meeting of the Senate.
“In a few days the people of Azerbaijan will mark the 25th anniversary of what has been one of the bloodiest events in their country's history, when more than 600 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the town of Khojaly, located in the now occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” senator Chris Back, member of Australia-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group, said in his speech.
Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992.
About 613 civilians – mostly women and children – were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.
The senator stressed that events of this nature are tragic and they are horrific, and of course they do no country any good in terms of its future and in terms of its relations with its neighbors or indeed with the wider community as represented through the United Nations.
Chris Back said that the discussion of Khojaly genocide gives everyone a chance to think and recognize that such events lead to large losses, and their impact will be felt for generations.
The senator further added that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its consequences have become an example of the worst form of humanitarian crisis. “Without successful mediation there is a threat of a military conflict in the territory – it will lead only to the destabilization of the situation between two countries, and in particular, to the destabilization in the whole Caucasian region,” Back said.
Reminding that Armenia still controls the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, he said that ethnic Azerbaijanis should be allowed to return to their lands.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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