Azernews.Az

Armenian parliament members said at the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna that the Khojaly genocide was committed by Armenian armed forces intentionally, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to OSCE PA, Parliament Vice-Speaker Bahar Muradova, told the Baku-based Trend news agency Tuesday.

"The Azerbaijani delegation sent its appeals on the issue to the secretary of the OSCE PA at its first winter session," she said. "It was stressed that events relating to the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy are being held these days."

"Azerbaijan sees the Khojaly events as a crime against humanity, as well as a symbol of impunity for the perpetrators of this crime and protests it. The establishment of the OSCE Minsk Group [brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict] is marked along with the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide. Unfortunately, the OSCE has been unable to give due assessment to the Armenian aggression, including such heinous crimes as the Khojaly genocide."

Muradova said the Armenian side quite emotionally responded to the issues raised by the Azerbaijani delegation. While protesting, the Armenian MPs said Armenians were ousted from the places where they lived prior to the conflict in Ganja, Sumgayit and other Azerbaijani cities, and in retaliation they committed genocide in Khojaly.

"Thus, the Armenians admitted that they deliberately committed the Khojaly genocide," Muradova said.

On the night of February 25-26, 1992, Armenian armed forces with the participation of the 366th motorized rifle regiment of the former Soviet army stationed in Khankandi, attacked Khojaly, a town which had been under siege for many months, and wiped it off the face of the earth. This bloody campaign resulted in a ruthless massacre against civilians. 613 people were killed, their corpses desecrated, while 1,275 people were taken hostage. The fates of 150 of them are still unknown. Those killed included 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly people. As a result of the military aggression, eight families were killed entirely.

This story is published by AzerNEWS Weekly under a project funded by the Foundation for State Assistance to the Development of the Media under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.