Islamic group urges to recognize Khojaly as crime against mankind
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has adopted a
resolution calling for international recongition of the Khojaly
massacre committed by Armenians against Azeris in 1992 as a crime
against humanity. The document was passed as the 37th session of
the OIC Foreign Ministers Council that closed in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan on Thursday, according to the Islamic Conference Youth
Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation (ICYFDC).
The resolution calls on OIC member states to support the Justice for Khojaly campaign.
The campaign, which was launched in February 2009 at the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, the Forum’s senior coordinator for inter-cultural dialog, aims to inform the world community about the tragedy and condemn the atrocities both on the nationwide and international scale. It is ongoing with the contribution of hundreds of volunteers and covers over 30 OIC member states, European and Latin American countries.
Elshad Iskandarov, the Forum’s secretary-general, commented that this is the first resolution whereby foreign ministers of the 57 OIC member states expressed an unequivocal stance by labeling the Khojaly atrocities as a crime against humanity.
"This expression bears both political and international-legal content and covers a number of serious violations of international humanitarian law, and genocide crimes. This document sets a firm political and legal stage for recognizing the Khojaly massacre as a crime against mankind in the parliaments of the OIC member states and for raising the recognition issue to the international level."
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s. On February 25-26, 1992, Armenian forces attacked unarmed civilians in Khojaly with the support of the Russian troops. 613 people were brutally killed, while 1,275 taken captives, 487 became handicapped and 150 remain missing. Overall, the war claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.*
The resolution calls on OIC member states to support the Justice for Khojaly campaign.
The campaign, which was launched in February 2009 at the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, the Forum’s senior coordinator for inter-cultural dialog, aims to inform the world community about the tragedy and condemn the atrocities both on the nationwide and international scale. It is ongoing with the contribution of hundreds of volunteers and covers over 30 OIC member states, European and Latin American countries.
Elshad Iskandarov, the Forum’s secretary-general, commented that this is the first resolution whereby foreign ministers of the 57 OIC member states expressed an unequivocal stance by labeling the Khojaly atrocities as a crime against humanity.
"This expression bears both political and international-legal content and covers a number of serious violations of international humanitarian law, and genocide crimes. This document sets a firm political and legal stage for recognizing the Khojaly massacre as a crime against mankind in the parliaments of the OIC member states and for raising the recognition issue to the international level."
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s. On February 25-26, 1992, Armenian forces attacked unarmed civilians in Khojaly with the support of the Russian troops. 613 people were brutally killed, while 1,275 taken captives, 487 became handicapped and 150 remain missing. Overall, the war claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.*
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