Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Khojaly genocide committed by Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijani civilians during the 1990s war continues to gain wide international recognition.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Latvia said that for the first time the largest faction of the Latvian parliament has issued a statement on Azerbaijan.

Chairman of the parliamentary faction, Janis Urbanovich, has sent a letter to Azerbaijan's embassy in the country in response to the embassy's appeal over the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy. The statement, which was issued by Urbanovich and the faction's deputy chairman Alexander Sakovskis, says: "We resolutely condemn this genocide against the Azerbaijani people and think that perpetrators of these crimes must be punished. No country has the right to procreate genocide against another. We express our condolence to the Azerbaijani people on the occasion."

Moreover, the Libyan foundation for human rights issued a statement in connection with the Khojaly genocide anniversary. The statement condemns the crime of the Armenian armed forces against peaceful residents of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly, according to Azerbaijan's embassy in Libya.

Also, an official document on the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and recognition of the Khojaly genocide was recently adopted at the House of Peoples (upper chamber) of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prior to Bosnia and Herzegovina's parliament, the parliaments of Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico and Columbia recognized the Khojaly massacre as genocide.

Also, the Czech Republic became the first EU country to officially condemn Armenia over the massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in Khojaly, and has recognized it as a crime against humanity.

On February 7, the Foreign Relations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic's parliament unanimously adopted a document condemning the Khojaly genocide.

"It was a crime against humanity condemned by numerous governments around the world," the document said.

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

Moreover, Arkansas recently became the latest U.S. state to recognize the Khojaly genocide. It is the second state after New Mexico where both houses of parliament have adopted resolutions recognizing the Khojaly tragedy.

The U.S. states of Texas, New Jersey, Georgia and Maine have also recognized the Khojaly genocide.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Russia, France and the U.S. - co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - have long been working to broker a solution of the conflict, but their efforts have been largely fruitless so far.

The town of Khojaly was situated within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Its population constituted over 7,000 people.

Late into the night of February 25, 1992, Khojaly came under intensive fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by Armenian armed forces. The Armenian 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 the neighboring regions. The joint forces occupied the town, which was ruined by heavy artillery shelling.

Thousands of fleeing civilians were ambushed by the Armenian forces. Punitive teams of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh defense army reached the unprotected civilians to slaughter them, mutilating and scalping some of the bodies. 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children. A total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, and 25 children lost both parents, while 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.