Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

A song and dance ensemble of Shusha, an Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani town, is participating in the 13th International Folklore Festival in Gyongyos, a Hungarian sister city with Shusha.

The 25-man ensemble will give concerts in Gyongyos and Budapest on the sidelines of the festival.

The festival brings together local artists, music and dance ensembles from Serbia, Brazil, Georgia, Panama, Poland, Greece, Indonesia, Colombia, China and France.

Azerbaijan`s Shusha and Hungarian Gyongyos signed a memorandum to become sister cities this May.

Shusha, the cultural center and capital of the historical Karabakh Khanate, fell victim to the Armenian aggression on May 8, 1992, when 290 sq. km of Azerbaijan's territory went to the control of the Armenian invaders.

As a result of the occupation of Shusha, 195 civilians were killed, 165 others wounded, 22,000 displaced and 68 taken hostage by the Armenians. Their fate is unknown to this day.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.