Turkey to recognize Khojaly genocide 'at the right time'
By Nigar Orujova
The Turkish parliament will, at the right time, make a decision on the recognition of the Khojaly genocide committed against Azerbaijanis by Armenians during the 1990s war, deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament Mehmet Saglam has said on a visit to Baku.
Saglam told journalists that there is no difference of opinion on the issue between the opposition and the authorities in the parliament.
He said the Turkish Grand National Assembly always takes into account Azerbaijan's interests while making decisions.
"Of course, foreign policy is pursued by the Foreign Ministry and the government," he said. "Until now, they have always upheld Azerbaijan's interests in the parliament and we support them."
The town of Khojaly within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, had population of over 7,000 people. Nagorno-Karabakh, along with seven surrounding districts, has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since the war fought in the early 1990s, which displaced about a million Azerbaijanis.
Late on February 25, 1992, the town came under intensive fire from the town of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by Armenian forces. At night the Armenian armed forces supported by the ex-Soviet 366th regiment completed the surrounding of the town already isolated due to ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani population of its neighboring regions. The joint forces occupied the town, which was ruined by heavy artillery shelling.
In just a few hours, 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children. A total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. 56 people were killed with outrageous brutality, eight families were totally exterminated, and 25 children lost both parents, while 130 children lost at least one parent, in what became the most brutal punishment of civilians during the three years of the conflict's military phase. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a fragile ceasefire in 1994. However, peace talks, brokered by the U.S., Russia and France, co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.
Recognition of the massacre
So far, a few countries have recognized the Khojaly massacre. Pakistan, Mexico and Colombia, as well as a number of the USA states, including Massachusetts and Texas, recognized the mass killings as genocide.
The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recognized the Khojaly tragedy as an act of genocide at its session held in Djibouti on November 15-17.
Recognition of the Khojaly genocide by OIC means that most Islamic countries will give due legal assessment to the events and it will be recognized by the whole international community, senior Azerbaijani official Ali Hasanov said earlier while commenting on the resolution adopted at the OIC meeting.