FM Mammadyarov leaves for Turkey
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has left Baku for Ankara to take part in an international conference titled “Khojaly genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism”.
The event to be organized by the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) and Ahmet Yesevi University will see speeches by Turkic Council Secretary General Ramil Hasanov, FM Elmar Mamamdyarov, Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes.
The town of Khojaly was situated within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Its population constituted over 7,000 people.
Late into the night of February 25, 1992, Khojaly came under intensive fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by Armenian armed forces. The Armenian forces, supported by the ex-Soviet 366th regiment, completed the surrounding of the town already isolated due to ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani population of the neighboring regions. The joint forces occupied the town, which was ruined by heavy artillery shelling.
Thousands of fleeing civilians were ambushed by the Armenian forces. Punitive teams of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh defense army reached the unprotected civilians to slaughter them, mutilating and scalping some of the bodies. 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children. A total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, and 25 children lost both parents, while 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.
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