Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden held a number of official meetings with the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) MPs and representatives of the Swedish Foreign Ministry on February 22-23, where it again raised the issue of considering the genocide in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly by the Swedish MPs and government.

At a meeting with the Alliance bloc MPs, the Congress again presented photos and materials proving the brutal acts of Armenian terrorists against the peaceful Azerbaijani population in Khojaly. The Congress representatives urged the Swedish politicians to raise the issue of the Khojaly genocide in the Riksdag.

Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire by Armenia from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces on the night of February 25-26, 1992.

As many as 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 Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden stressed that unlike the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, the genocide against civilians of the occupied Azerbaijani lands is a fact, while the “Armenian genocide” still remains doubtful due to lack of evidence.

The Congress members expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that some Swedish politicians, for gaining popularity among the Assyrians and Armenians in Sweden, use the “Armenian genocide” as a political tool, meanwhile ignoring the call of Ankara to open archives and to prove whether there was a “genocide” or not.

The aim of the Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden is to report the truth about Azerbaijan, its history and culture to the Swedish society, as well as the development of relations between Azerbaijani communes of Sweden, strengthening their capacity and joint solution of arising problems.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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