Baku, February 28, AZERTAC

A commemorative event on the 30th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide was held in the “Salle Cortot” music hall in Paris, in joint cooperation between the Embassy of Azerbaijan in France and the permanent representative office of the country under the UNESCO, supported by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the State Committee on Work with Diaspora.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to France Rahman Mustafayev and permanent representative at UNESCO Elman Abdullayev gave detailed information about the genocide committed against civilians in Khojaly.

It was informed that 613 civilians were mercilessly killed on a single night. Led by victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, courageous Azerbaijani Army put an end to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and opened a new glorious page in the country`s history, taking revenge on the enemy for the Azerbaijani sons who have perished safeguarding the integrity of the homeland, as well as for the victims of the Khojaly genocide.

The Khojaly genocide is the only act of genocide which was openly confessed, in an interview to British journalist Thomas de Waal, by its author Serge Sarkisyan to have directly involved in its commitment.

It was noted that the genocide that had been committed by the Nazi Germany during the World War 2 in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane was repeated against civilians in Khojaly in the 20th century.

At the event was also mentioned that the Khojaly tragedy was the bloodiest page of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan. It was noted that the primary objective of the campaign “Justice for Khojaly!”, initiated in 2008 by Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, was to inform the world society of the Khojaly tragedy, condemn the crime committed by Armenian armed forces, and secure the political and legal assessment of this tragedy. This international campaign has been of great importance in terms of remembering the victims of the Khojaly genocide. Such crimes must be punished in order not to let them be repeated.

The campaign “Justice for Khojaly!” led to 17 countries’ parliaments, 24 states of the USA recognizing the Khojaly tragedy as “mass killing” and “a crime against humanity”. The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council has adopted a declaration condemning the Khojaly genocide, calling on other international organizations to give a legal assessment of the tragedy.

The speakers talked about the cruelty committed by the Armenian armed forces against the Azerbaijani civilians. Names of the Khojaly victims were called, talking about the inhuman treatment by Armenians towards the women, children and elderly who had been kept hostage, mentioning that hundreds of families were completely destroyed.

It was mentioned that although Armenian nationalists tried to hide the truths about Azerbaijan, the fact of their merciless killing of civilians have been conveyed to the international society by Azerbaijani diplomats and Diaspora members.

Then Isfar Sarabski presented a Jazz programme devoted to the victims of the Khojaly genocide by the Sarabski Quartet. Isfar Sarabski (piano), Bahruz Zeynal(tar), Sasha Mashin (percussion instruments) and Makar Novikov (doublebass) performed popular songs “Ay Lachin”, “Sari Gelin”, and other compositions by Gara Garayev, Said Rustamov etc.