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Azerbaijan holds minute of silence to honor Khojaly victims

26 February 2018 17:24 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan holds minute of silence to honor Khojaly victims

By Trend

The memory of Khojaly genocide’s victims was honored with a minute of silence in Azerbaijan.

The movement of traffic and pedestrians in the country was stopped for a minute at 17:00 (UTC+4) to honor the tragedy victims, while the minute of silence was accompanied by horns of ships in the Bay of Baku, metro cars and railway trains.

The state flag was lowered in other cities and districts of the country, as well as at the diplomatic missions of Azerbaijan in foreign countries.

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 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.

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.

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