Azerbaijan-America Alliance launches campaign on Khojaly genocide
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijan-America Alliance (AAA) has launched the 3rd annual Khojaly campaign in memory of the Azerbaijanis who were killed in the village of Khojaly on February 26, 1992.
Posters with the words "Khojaly; A Human Tragedy Against Azerbaijan" on them will be placed in the subway, bus stations, and squares of Washington and New York at the initiative of the Alliance founder Anar Mammadov.
Information about the Khojaly genocide will be projected on buildings located in central streets using mobile projections.
"This is the third year the Azerbaijan-America Alliance has held an educational campaign about the Khojaly genocide in the United States," Mammadov said.
"The goal of the new campaign is introducing the terrible events in Khojaly, which became the most terrible chapter in the history of not only Azerbaijan, but also the whole world. I think Americans should be aware of the events that happened in Khojaly, Azerbaijan, 22 years ago, and recognize these events as genocide against the Azerbaijani people," he added. "We at the Azerbaijan- America Alliance, which is directly involved in the overseas propaganda of our country's intangible heritage and national, cultural, and moral values, want to make our contemporary history known to the whole world and provide maximum information about those terrible events that we had to go through on the road to independence. This campaign is able to cover a large audience, and I am sure that even more people will be informed about the Khojaly tragedy and Azerbaijan's realities after this campaign."
The campaign will continue for several weeks, and many media outlets, including traditional media and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube will post articles with editorial notes and hold discussions.
Information about the campaign, video and photo reports, and articles and editorial notes can be found using the social media links from the web-site of the Alliance: www.azerbaijanamericaalliance.org.
Launched on February 11, the campaign will cover the states of New York and Washington and be held at major transportation hubs. Banners about the Khojaly genocide will be placed at the famous Times Square, and the victims of Khojaly will be commemorates in several educational institutions.
In 1992, the town of Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intensive fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran which were already occupied by the Armenian armed forces.
613 civilians including 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 both their parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.