Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

A conference dedicated to the 23rd anniversary of the Khojaly genocide has been held in Vienna, Austria.

The event brought together representatives of Azerbaijani and Turkish diasporas, employees of the embassies of the two countries and members of the local society.

The conference started with the demonstration of a documentary on the Khojaly genocide.

In 1992, the town of Khojaly came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces. 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. Many civilians were shot at close range, scalped or burned alive.

Yardim Gunes, Head of the Austria Azerbaijan Culture and Businessmen`s Association spoke of the genocide, adding a lot of civilians were killed during the massacre, and stressed the importance of holding such conferences in terms of delivering the Khojaly truths to the world community.

Azay Guliyev, Azerbaijani MP and Sinan Ogan, Turkish MP, head of the Turkish-Azerbaijan Association also delivered reports at the event.

Guliyev underlined the role of the “Justice for Khojaly!” campaign in delivering the truths about the Khojaly genocide to the world.

“Justice for Khojaly” International Awareness Campaign was initiated by Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-president of the Haydar Aliyev Foundation and the General Coordinator for Intercultural Dialogue of the ICYF-DC in 2009 and currently is being successfully implemented in over 50 countries worldwide.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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