Scottish Parliament adopts resolution condemning Khojaly massacre
By Rashid Shirinov
The Parliament of Scotland has passed a resolution on February 22 on political assessment of the Khojaly massacre of Azerbaijan.
The Parliament decided to give a political assessment of the Khojaly tragedy by mutual consent of all of the parliamentary parties. The text of the resolution was posted on the Parliament website in anticipation of the 25th anniversary of the genocide.
The vast majority of Scottish Parliament members supported its adoption by putting their names under the draft resolution.
The resolution emphasizes mutual relations of friendship and fruitful cooperation between Azerbaijan and Scotland, and strongly condemns the fact of occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region in the 1990s. The events in Khojaly are recognized in the document as massacre against the local population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In addition, the resolution considers the actions of the perpetrators of the Khojaly massacre as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The resolution also emphasizes that Armenia has occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory and continues to ignore four resolutions on withdrawal adopted by the UN Security Council.
A copy of the resolution was presented to the delegation of Azerbaijan who visited the Scottish Parliament on February 22.
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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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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