Azernews.Az

The Colombian Senate has passed a decision on Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories and recognized as genocide the crimes committed by Armenians in Khojaly in 1992 during the Karabakh war, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said Monday.

The decision was taken unanimously after 102 votes required for its adoption were successfully collected.

A supplement to the decision has information about the history of the policy of aggression against Azerbaijan, as well as about the Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and the seven surrounding regions occupied by Armenia [since the 1990s war], Abdullayev told a news briefing.

He said the supplement also contains information about one million refugees and internally displaced persons, violence against the Azerbaijani population and human rights violations.

According to the supplement, the important fact is that the crimes committed in Khojaly are branded genocide. Colombia became the second Latin American country after Mexico, whose parliament recognized Khojaly events as genocide, Abdullayev said, adding that before the document was submitted to the Senate, it was discussed in a Columbian committee on foreign affairs and defense.

Abdullayev said this decision was another success of Azerbaijani diplomacy in achieving the legal and political assessment of the Khojaly genocide in the world.

We will continue working in this direction, which is very important to us, he said.

Prior to Mexico and Colombia, the Khojaly genocide was recognized by the US states of New Jersey and Texas, as well as the Pakistani Senate`s Foreign Relations Committee.