Turkey ready to assist Azerbaijan with Khojaly genocide recognition: official
By Sara Rajabova
Turkey is ready to assist Azerbaijan over the collection of facts for the recognition of Khojaly genocide committed by Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijani civilians during the 1990s war and conducting propaganda over the issue around the world, a senior Turkish official says.
Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly (parliament) Mehmet Saglam told the Baku-based Trend news agency that in order to promote the acknowledgement of the genocide committed by the Armenians against Turks, people engaged in science of the parliaments of the two countries and scientific research centers should work together. They should reveal evidence and facts regarding this matter.
Saglam said that Azerbaijan and Turkey should prove that the Khojaly developments are genocide and can propagate it internationally, and Turkey is always ready to help Azerbaijan in this regard.
The Armenian side, as before, is working hard to promote what it claims is genocide committed in Ottoman Turkey. According to Saglam, a great deal of work is being done by the Armenians in connection with the 100th anniversary of the alleged "Armenian genocide" in 2015.
Turkey's parliament is making preparations to respond to this move, and some conferences and forums are being held over this. Turkey is working to collect more documents and evidence in order to respond to the Armenian efforts regarding the "genocide," Saglam said.
According to him, Turkey has always taken the same steps as Azerbaijan relating to the Khojaly genocide. He said that, in fact, they recognize the Khojaly developments as genocide.
"Khojaly genocide has been discussed in our parliament many times. Our parliament has already passed some decisions on Khojaly.
"As a country we are opposed to official recognition of the genocide issues, in particular, the events of 1915 by the parliament of any country. We condemn such decisions made by any parliament in the world. We want scholars to discuss the events of 1915 and research the archives," Saglam said.
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.
The scope of coverage of the realities pertaining to the Khojaly tragedy expands year-on-year and the number of countries recognizing those crimes as genocide is increasing.
Thus, a photo exhibition, "Justice for Khojaly", has opened in the Tirat Carmel city of Israel. It was organized by the Israel-Azerbaijan international association, AZIZ, with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and STMEGI International Mountain Jews Charity Foundation, local media reported.
According to AZIZ, the exhibition is being held within the framework of the "Justice for Khojaly" campaign led by Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, as well as the STMEGI charity.
Photographs documenting the bloody mass killings perpetrated against the Azerbaijani people are demonstrated in a new central library of Tirat Carmel.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by the Mayor of Tirat Carmel Arie Tal, heads of public organizations, as well as Israeli media.
Opening the event, Director of the Center for Preservation of the Culture and Traditions of Mountain Jews, member of the Board of Directors of AZIZ Shaul Siman-Tov spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Khojaly genocide.
In February, the exhibition was demonstrated in the Beth Hatefutsoth diaspora museum in Tel Aviv.
Besides, the Senate of Jordan has issued a statement on the Khojaly genocide. The Senate expressed support for the decisions of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recognizing the Khojaly tragedy as genocide and a crime against humanity and calling for due steps to have this massacre recognized.
Earlier, resolutions on the Khojaly tragedy were passed in the parliaments of Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico, and Colombia, as well as in the OIC.
This year, such resolutions have been adopted in the parliaments of the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Besides, the U.S. states of Connecticut, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Texas, Maine, New Jersey, Georgia, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Pennsylvania recognized the Khojaly massacre.