Azernews.Az

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) fully supports Azerbaijan on the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh issue, a long-lasting conflict it faces with Armenia, the group`s director general has said.
"We believe that Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity," Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri said.
ISESCO was founded by the Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1979. The group consists of 50 of the 57 OIC member states, including Azerbaijan.
Altwaijri said one of the key conditions for establishing the OIC was to demonstrate solidarity among Muslim countries. "I believe Azerbaijan has received this support from the OIC members. If the Azerbaijani government puts forth proposals on Upper Garabagh or the Khojaly tragedy [the massacre unleashed by the Armenian forces in February 1992] at today`s conference, this issue will be reflected in the final resolution."
The fourth conference of Islamic countries` education and science ministers convened in Baku on Monday with the support of the Education Ministry and ISESCO. The three-day event, attended by over 200 representatives of 41 OIC member states and 20 international organizations, is focusing on problems in the areas of science and education, opportunities for cooperation within OIC in addressing them, and announcing beneficial proposals to that end.
At the conclusion of the conference, the Baku Resolution is to be adopted. The resolution is expected to reflect a decision of the participants on including information about the Khojaly carnage, perpetrated by Armenian thugs against Azeris in pursuit of ethnic cleansing and occupation policies, in the education materials of Islamic countries.
Thousands of Azeri civilians were slain by Armenian forces in the Khojaly district with the support of Russian troops on February 25-26, 1992. 613 people were brutally killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly residents. 1,275 were taken captive, while 487 became handicapped due to injuries and 150 were never accounted for. The damage to the economy by the carnage amounted to over $1 billion.