11:05, 27 February 2019

Thousands-strong march held in Baku on anniversary of Khojaly tragedy

Rally in memory of victims of the Khojaly tragedy, Baku, February 26, 2019. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the Caucasian Knot

40,000 marchers came to the memorial in Baku to pay tribute to the Khojaly residents, who perished 27 years ago in the course of the Karabakh conflict.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 26, Azerbaijan remembered victims of the Khojaly tragedy.

At night of February 25-26, 1992, during the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian armed forces assaulted the town of Khojaly mainly populated by Azerbaijanis. For more than four months, the town of Khojaly stayed completely cordoned off until the Armenian forces took control over it. During this time, according to the Azerbaijani authorities, 613 civilians were killed, including 63 children, 106 women, and 70 old people. 1275 civilians were taken hostage. Until present, the fate of 150 of them is unknown.

On February 26, thousands of people took part in the march to the "Mother's Call" Memorial in Baku on the occasion of the anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy. A delegation of Russian MPs took part in the march.

The march started at 10:00 a.m. from the city central square. The event was broadcast by the state TV, which reported 40,000 participants.

A delegation of Russian MPs and experts took part in the march. They came to Azerbaijan to participate in the conference "Building Common Future, Searching for Common Past, Developing Common Present".

"There is not a single person on the Earth, who could approve such atrocities like in Khojaly. Not only Azerbaijanis, but many other nationals perished there. We have to tell the truth, so that this never happens anywhere in the world," Lyudmila Kozlova, the deputy chair of the committee on social policy of the Russia's Federation Council, said at a press conference on February 26.

Russia should recognize the tragic events in Khojaly as genocide of the Azerbaijani people, Dmitry Saveliev, a State Duma MP, has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 27, 2019 at 00:27 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent