“Khojaly. Genocide of the 20th century” book published
Baku, February 23 (AZERTAC). “Khojaly. Genocide of the 20th century” book, a joint project of the socio-political affairs department of the Presidential Administration and Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency (AZERTAC), has been published.
The book came out in Azerbaijani, English, Russian, German, French and Arabic languages, and features a list of Khojaly victims and photos.
The facts, figures and information featured in the book were taken from reliable sources - ministries of National Security and Internal Affairs, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Office of the Military Prosecutor, the State Committee on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, the National Archives Department, the executive authorities of Khojaly, Shusha and Khojavand regions, and AZERTAC; and were authorized by the Azerbaijan Copyright Agency.
The project`s authors, Ali Hasanov, head of department at the Presidential Administration and Aslan Aslanov, AZERTAC`s Director General, write that in terms of its level and horrible consequences, the Khojaly massacre was committed not only against the people of Azerbaijan but also against the whole humanity.
“What testifies to this tragedy as a genocide can be found in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Universal Human Rights Declaration, UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President`s decree “on genocide of Azerbaijanis” of March 26, 1998.”
The book says: “Twenty years ago, on the night of 25-26 February 1992, Armenian armed forces, with the help of the 366th motorized infantry regiment`s military hardware and personnel, attacked and ruined the town of Khojaly and committed genocide against Azerbaijanis. They slaughtered civilians, murdering 613 people, desecrating dead bodies, capturing and torturing 1275 persons.”
The book emphasizes that the Azerbaijani state and government, Heydar Aliyev Foundation and other non-governmental organizations, Diaspora structures undertake important steps towards making the Khojaly tragedy known to a larger number of countries worldwide and its recognition as an act of genocide. After returning to power, national leader Heydar Aliyev defined guidelines of the activity in this direction.
“At the initiative of national leader Heydar Aliyev, the Milli Majlis held a special session dedicated to the Khojaly Genocide in 1994 and special decision was made to mark February 26 every year as the Khojaly Genocide Day. President Heydar Aliyev signed a decree on February 25, 1997 “on observance of a moment of silence as a mark of respect to the Khojaly genocide victims” every year on February 26 at 17.00, decree “on genocide of Azerbaijanis” on March 26, 1998; Milli Majlis made a decision to mark the 15th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide in 2007; President Ilham Aliyev signed an order “on the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide” on January 17, 2012.”
“The important role in international recognition of the Khojaly tragedy as the genocide was played by the “Justice for Khojaly” international campaign initiated in 2009 by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, general coordinator for intercultural dialogue of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum Leyla Aliyeva. As a result of the campaign being successfully conducted in more than 35 countries, parliamentary delegations from 51 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation recognized the Khojaly tragedy as genocide on an international scale on 31 January this year,” the book says.
“The measures to have the Khojaly genocide internationally recognized enter the new stage. This stage envisages paying special attention to the accuracy of information, facts and photographs related to the Khojaly genocide so that our enemies could not use it against us. This book-album was prepared for this purpose.”
Compiling editors of the book are Arastun Mehdiyev, deputy head of department at the Presidential Administration, Vugar Aliyev, head of section at the Presidential Administration, Dagbeyi Ismayilov, deputy Director General of AZERTAC.
The book comes with a CD of its electronic version.
