This year, Azerbaijani communities around the world marked the 30th anniversary of one of the darkest pages of recent Azerbaijani history – the Khojaly Massacre, committed on the night of February 26th, 1992 by Armenian forces.
In the weeks following the massacre, Western media unveiled to the world the chilling details of the night, where 613 civilians, including women and children, were exterminated by the invading Armenian Armed Forces, aided by the Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment.
The Human Rights Watch refers to the 1992 Khojaly Massacre as the largest massacre in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Ultimately, Armenian forces ended up ethnically cleansing almost 700,000 Azerbaijanis out of their homes in Karabakh and occupying the region, despite the 4 UN Security Council resolutions demanding their “immediate withdrawal out of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.”
Armenia’s former president, Serzh Sargsyan, went on record saying “Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that stereotype. And that’s what happened.” (documented in British historian Thomas DeWaal's book "Black Garden").
None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice in 30 years. This doesn’t only render the innocent victims as invisible in the eyes of the world, but also discredits the strength of the international community and encourages oppressors in different parts of the world to commit crimes with impunity.
We will continue to educate, remember, and work to put an end to the hatred that fuelled the massacre in Khojaly.