US state of Connecticut recognizes Khojaly genocide
By Sara Rajabova
The General Assembly of the U.S. state of Connecticut has adopted a document recognizing the Khojaly genocide committed by Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijani civilians during the 1990s war.
The document was handed over to the Counselor of the Azerbaijani Embassy in the U.S. Mammad Talibov by Senator Andrew Maynard and Deputy Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives Kevin Ryan, the Azerbaijani Embassy in the U.S. said Thursday.
Earlier, the U.S. states of West Virginia, Massachusetts, Texas, Maine, New Jersey, Georgia, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Pennsylvania recognized the Khojaly massacre.
Besides, the resolutions on the Khojaly tragedy have been passed in the parliaments of Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico, and Colombia, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
This year, such resolutions have been adopted in the parliaments of the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Late into the night of February 25, 1992, the town of Khojaly, situated within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, 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 some of the bodies. 613 civilians, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children, were killed in the massacre. 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.
Azerbaijani Embassy Counselor Talibov met with representatives of the Connecticut legislative body in Hartford on the sidelines of an event organized with the efforts of the Council of Turkic American Associations and Turkish Cultural Center Connecticut.
Talibov expressed his gratitude to the members of Connecticut's General Assembly for the attention to the tragic pages of the Azerbaijani history.
The diplomat also drew attention to the fact that May 8 marked another anniversary of the occupation of the ancient cultural center of Azerbaijan, Shusha, which was part of the continued policy of occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia.
He also noted that 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of Armenia for 21 years.
Talibov stressed the importance of a greater involvement of the U.S. in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on common norms and principles of international law.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.
Peace negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.