Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

A declaration condemning the Khojaly genocide was sent to the Swedish Parliament (349 MPs), government, foreign ministry, and the offices of international organizations in Sweden.

The move was initiated by the "For the sake of Azerbaijan" society on the eve of the 22nd anniversary of Khojaly genocide committed by the Armenian armed forces in early 1990s, the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora said.

In 1992, the town of Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran, already occupied by the Armenian armed forces.

613 civilians including 106 women, 70 elderly, and 83 children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost their both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 remains unknown. Civilians were shot at close range, scalped, and burned alive. Some had their eyes gouged out and others were beheaded.

The Khojaly genocide is compared to the tragedies in Khatyn, Lidice, and Oradour in the document.

The declaration said the international community must know the truth about the Khojaly tragedy, and urged it to give a legal assessment of the crimes committed against humanity.

The Khojaly tragedy is part of the ethnic cleansing and genocide policy pursued by Armenian nationalists and their patrons against the Azerbaijani people, the declaration said, calling on the Swedish government and the world community not to remain indifferent to this tragedy.

The document also called for the punishment of the perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide.
The State Committee for Work with Diaspora said protests will be held in front of the embassies of Armenia in connection with Khojaly genocide in a number of world countries.
Marches, rallies, photo exhibitions, scientific conferences, debates, and memorial evenings aimed at the recognition of the Khojaly genocide by the international community will be held in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and other countries.

Protests will also be held in front of the UN headquarters in New York, Berlin, Hanover, and other cities, memorial evenings in Toronto, Montreal, and other cities, and photo exhibitions in Houston and Los Angeles. Car procession will be organized in Magdeburg, and a film about the Khojaly genocide will be shown on the city's TV channel.

The signatures collected during the "Justice for Khojaly" campaign in Berlin will be extended to the Bundestag. Showing video snapshots of the Khojaly genocide on the monitors of urban and suburban buses is planned in Dresden.