Youth group launches campaign to condemn Armenian occupation worldwide
By Sara Rajabova
An Azerbaijani youth group has launched a campaign aiming to inform the world community about Azerbaijan's realities and draw international attention to the Armenian occupation of a part of Azerbaijani territory, which has persisted for two decades.
The "Voices for peace, voices for Karabakh" campaign, announced by the Azerbaijani Students and Alumni International Forum (ASAIF) and supported by the Odlar Yurdu Organization, was launched on the day of the occupation of Shusha.
Shusha, the cultural center and capital of the historical Karabakh Khanate, fell victim to the Armenian aggression on May 8, 1992, when 290 sq. km of Azerbaijan's territory went to the control of the Armenian invaders.
As a result of the occupation of Shusha, 195 civilians were killed, 165 others wounded, 22,000 displaced and 68 taken hostage by the Armenians. Their fate is unknown to this day.
As part of the global campaign, a string quartet of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music gave a concert in Budapest to draw attention to the fact of Shusha's occupation.
The event was organized under the motto "raise the voice for the sake of peace, raise the voice for the sake of humanity" over the 21th anniversary of the occupation of Shusha by the Armenians.
Azerbaijani university students studying in Hungary handed out leaflets and books that tell people about the bitter aftermath of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, as well as outstanding personalities and historical monuments in Shusha.
Also, such an event was held in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. Masterpieces of world classical music, including plays by famous Azerbaijani composers, were performed during the opening ceremony.
Similar events have been held in 17 countries, including the UK, Austria, Lithuania, Italy, USA and China, as part of the "Voices for peace, voices for Karabakh" campaign.
The campaign calls on people to ponder the fate of thousands of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs and take action by attracting public, political and media attention not just to the innocent victims of the Karabakh war, but also to other lingering conflicts.
Also, ASAIF organized video messages of different nationalities titled "I am Lachin" to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the occupation of Azerbaijan's Lachin region by the Armenian armed forces.
On May 18, 1992, the town of Lachin, one settlement and 120 villages of the region were occupied by the Armenian forces. 264 Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians were killed during the occupation of the Lachin region. Moreover, 103 people were wounded or disabled. 18 Azerbaijani children were killed, 225 were injured and 31 lost both of their parents. 64,000 Azerbaijanis became internally displaced persons.
The organization also initiated "I am Karabakh" project in an effort to draw attention to the ongoing occupation of 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory by the Armenian forces.
It noted that the Armenian troops occupied 11 regions, violating the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, during the Karabakh war in the early 1990s.
The gist of the "Voices for peace, voices for Karabakh" campaign is simple: it is a call for non-violent endeavors aimed at restoration of peace and justice in the world and it urges to raise the voice against this type of injustice.
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 caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.