THE Azeri people are still seeking justice for the massacre of 613 Azerbaijanis in the town of Khojaly by Armenian troops during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1992, the Azerbaijan consulate in Makati City said Tuesday.
Considered as the largest massacre of the conflict, 613 civilians—including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly peoples —were brutally killed on the night of Feb. 26, 1992 by Armenian and Russian troops.
During the attack, 487 inhabitants of Khojaly were wounded, including 76 children, eight families were completely wiped out, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both.
Of those who died, 56 were killed through violent means, with some burned alive, scalped, beheaded or had eyes gouged out. Pregnant women were stabbed by bayonet in the abdomen.
The Khojaly massacre was described by Human Rights Watch as “the largest massacre to date in the conflict” over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sadly, the consulate said perpetrators of these genocidal acts committed against Azerbaijanis remain unpunished, with some still at large occupying high positions in neighboring Armenia.
The United Nations Security Council issued four resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884), demanding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the territories of Azerbaijan. However, these resolutions have not been implemented, 23 years after their issuance.
In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the Khojaly massacre as “acts of particular gravity which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.” To date, the perpetrators still go unpunished.
While it is willing to mend fences and co-exist with Armenia, Azerbaijan demands that Armenia withdraw from the lands it seized during the invasion.