Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended on Monday a commemorative ceremony on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide committed by Armenia during the Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

President Aliyev laid a wreath at the Khojaly memorial where a guard of honor was lined up nearby.

Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov, Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev and First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva laid flowers at the memorial.

The commemorative ceremony was attended by government officials, MPs, heads of committees and companies, leaders of religious confessions, as well as Khojaly massacre survivors.

The Azerbaijani public honored the memory of the Khojaly genocide victims. The first lessons at schools were devoted to honoring the Khojaly genocide victims. Also, numerous events have been organized in universities to mark the anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy.

Tragedy of the century

The mass killings in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly, which had population of 7,000 people, were perpetrated by Armenian armed forces on February 25-26, 1992. There were 3,000 people in the town at the time of the Armenian attack.

613 people were brutally killed, including 106 women, 83 children, and 70 elderly. 1,000 peaceful residents were disabled during the Khojaly genocide. Moreover, 8 families were annihilated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 lost both. 1,275 peaceful residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 is still unknown.

The ruthless acts were committed by the Armenian military with inconceivable barbarism. The second battalion of the 366th regiment under the command of Major Seyran Ohanian, the third battalion under the command of Yevgeniy Nabokhin, staff chief of the first battalion Valeriy Chitchyan and more than 50 officers and ensigns serving in the regiment were involved in the brutal attack. (This data is derived "From the investigation materials concerning Khojaly occupation").

A part of the town residents who attempted to flee were ambushed and killed by the Armenians. According to the Russian remedial center Memorial, 200 corpses were brought from Khojaly to Agdam within four days. Traces of humiliation were found on the bodies.

The town was wiped off the face of the earth. 56 of the brutally killed people were burned alive and beheaded, and their faces were skinned. Even the eyes of infants were gouged out, while the abdomens of pregnant women sliced with bayonets.

The corpses were desecrated by the Armenians, which is part of the inhuman and horrific accounts of the Khojaly tragedy. The unfathomable massacre went down as one of the most terrible and tragic pages of Azerbaijani history.

The Khojaly genocide of the 20th century was a result of Armenia's aggressive and criminal policy. This tragedy was one of the gravest crimes not only against the people of Azerbaijan, but humanity as a whole. The massacre is on par with the genocides in Khatyn, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and other grave massacres.

Banned bullets of 5.45 calibre and chemical weapons were used in Khojaly during the attack. All these facts prove that Armenia committed genocide against civilian people, violating the Geneva Convention protocol on the rules of warfare.

The parliaments of Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico and Columbia as well as the U.S. states of Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, New Jersey, Georgia and Maine have recognized the Khojaly massacre as genocide.

Besides, the Romanian Democratic Liberal Party's parliament group has issued a statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict condemning the Khojaly genocide.

The required 100,000 people signed a recent petition on recognition of the Khojaly tragedy posted on the White House website.