Turkiye stands by Azerbaijan on 31st Khojaly genocide anniversary
Rena Murshud
Read moreTurkiye's Vice President Fuat Oktay in a tweet commemorated the memory of the Khojaly genocide victims, marked on February 26, Azernews reports.
"We remember with pain the atrocities that occurred in Khojaly 31 years ago. We honor the memory of our brothers and sisters who died. The pain of Azerbaijan is our pain. We have not forgotten, we will not forget," he wrote.
The Khojaly genocide is seen as the pinnacle of the systematic crimes and atrocities committed by Armenia against Azerbaijanis.
As a result of this bloody massacre, 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly were killed, 8 families were completely wiped out, 25 children lost both parents, 130 children lost one of their parents, 487 people were seriously injured, 1,275 people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them is still unknown.
Some 56 people were killed with extreme cruelty, with their heads peeled off, various limbs severed, eyes removed, and pregnant women's bellies pierced with bayonets. As a result, eight families were utterly destroyed, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children were orphaned.
Relevant documents adopted by the parliaments of Mexico, Pakistan, the Czech Republic, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Sudan, Guatemala, and Djibouti recognized the Khojaly massacre as an act of genocide. The parliaments of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Jordan, Slovenia, Scotland, and Paraguay, as well as the executive and legislative bodies of 22 U.S. states, have strongly condemned the Khojaly tragedy as a massacre. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation recognized Armenia as an aggressor and the Khojaly tragedy as genocide.
Azerbaijan annually commemorates the victims of the Khojaly genocide on February 26.
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