Tennessee House of Representatives recognizes Khojaly massacre
Washington, March 19 (AZERTAC). The House of Representatives of Tennessee on Monday issued a resolution on the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly massacre.
The resolution commemorates the victims of the crime committed by Armenian armed forces in Khojaly and underlines that the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia is reflected in the international organizations` documents.
The statement draft #HR0048 submitted by congressman Joe Towns was adopted with 35 votes for and 7 against.
The relevant resolutions on Khojaly Massacre were also issued by other US States - Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia, Mississippi, Maine, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
The Khojaly massacre has so far been recognized by the parliaments of Pakistan, Mexico, Columbia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bosnia Herzegovina.
The town of Khojaly was situated within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Its population constituted over 7,000 people. Because of its communication advantage of having a civilian airport, just before the start of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict it had become a shelter for refugee Meskhet Turks who fled the bloody inter-ethnic clashes in Central Asia as well as Azerbaijani refugees deported from Armenia.
Late into the night of February 25, 1992, Khojaly came under intensive fire from the town of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by Armenian forces. At night the Armenian armed forces supported by the ex-Soviet 366th regiment completed the surrounding of the town already isolated due to ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani population of its neighboring regions. The joint forces occupied the town, which was ruined by heavy artillery shelling.
In just a few hours, 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children in Khojaly on that bloody night. A total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. 56 people were killed with outrageous brutality, eight families were totally exterminated, and 25 children lost both parents, while 130 children lost at least one parent, in what became the most brutal crackdown on civilians during the three years of the conflict`s military phase. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since the lengthy war that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan`s internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia`s withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but Armenia has not followed them to this day.
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