Monument to Khojaly martyrs erected in Ankara
By Jamila Babayeva
Khojaly martyrs' monument was opened in Turkey's capital Ankara on the 22nd anniversary of the Khojaly genocide on February 26.
Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Cicek, Azerbaijan`s ambassador to Turkey Faig Bagirov and a number of MPs attended the opening ceremony, TRT Haber reported.
Cicek noted that Azerbaijan and Turkey is not only 'one nation with two states', but also two sons of a mother.
He further noted that it is impossible to be indifferent to the Khojaly tragedy. "The person who is indifferent to the Khojaly tragedy is not one of us. It is a crime committed against humanity," he said.
On February 25-26, 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 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. Civilians were shot at close range, scalped, and burned alive. Some had their eyes gouged out and others were beheaded.