President Aliyev orders to execute Justice for Khojaly campaign
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on the execution of Justice for Khojaly campaign.
Under the presidential order, one million manats will be allocated to the Youth and Sport Ministry from the President`s Reserve Fund for 2014 for the execution of the campaign.
The "Justice for Khojaly" International Awareness Campaign was initiated in 2009 by Leyla Aliyeva, General Coordinator of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation.
The Campaign is aimed at raising international civil awareness through demonstration of creative photos and images of suffered people in the Karabakh conflict and in particular Khojaly massacre, as well as reaching out globally via media, Internet and live events.
The Campaign is also aimed at raising awareness on grave situation of oppressed people (due to total ethnic cleansing only Armenians are allowed to remain at the mentioned territories) under the military regime of occupation forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and on necessity for promotion of liberation of this ancient cradle of civilization. It also calls on the global community to remove the root cause of the conflict.
In 1992, the town of Khojaly, the second largest town in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intensive fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces.
613 civilians with 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children were killed in the massacre. Meanwhile, a total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost their both parents and 130 children one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. Civilians were shot at close range, scalped and burned alive. Some had their eyes gouged out and others were beheaded.