U.S. CONGRESS COMMEMORATES KHOJALY TRAGEDY
The United States congressmen commemorated the anniversary of Khojaly tragedy.
Co-chairman of Congressional Azerbaijani Caucus Solomon P. Ortiz of Texas in the House of Representatives delivered a speech on the 16th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy.
The democratic congressman said on February 25-26, 1992, the town of Khojaly in the Nagorno Karabagh region of Azerbaijan was brutally attacked by Armenian forces. ``The town of Khojaly, which was home to 7,000 people, was completely destroyed; a total of 613 people were killed, of which 106 were women and 83 were children, and 56 of whom are purported to have been killed with extreme cruelty and torture. Additionally, 1275 were taken hostage, 150 went missing; 487 people became disabled (76 of whom are teenagers); 8 families were wiped out; 25 children lost both of their parents, and 130 children lost one of their parents.``
He said the Khojaly massacre was not an isolated incident. ``In fact, the level of brutality and the atrocities committed at Khojaly set a pattern of destruction that Armenian troops would adhere to for the remainder of the Nagorno-Karabakh War.``
Mr. Ortiz stressed that no one has been prosecuted for the crimes committed in Khojaly and, ``unfortunately, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still remains.``
He pointed out that on January 21, 2008, Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted in the Wall Street Journal that it has been almost 14 years since the Armenia-Azerbaijan war ended, but Armenian troops remain on Azerbaijan`s territory.
Minister Mammadyarov opined: ``We need to urgently conclude this process. Maintaining the status quo is just too costly. The resolution of this issue would secure regional security and economic growth.``
Member of the Congressional Caucus Virginia Foxx of North Carolina in the House of Representatives also spoke of the tragedy. The congresswoman said while there has been considerable congressional attention to tragic events which took place in Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Darfur, and elsewhere, very little light has shined on what happened in 1992, less than 20 years ago in the Caucasus.
She stated that everything changed for the small, little known Azerbaijani town of Khojaly between February 25-26, 1992. ``Sixteen years later, for the people of Azerbaijan and the region, the word ``Khojaly`` stirs up memories of pain and sorrow,`` she underscored.
Ms. Foxx announced that many human rights groups and media outlets at the time sought to draw attention to the events and solicit international condemnation.
She said: ``Human Rights Watch called the tragedy at the time ``the largest massacre to date in the conflict.`` The extent of the cruelty of this massacre against women, children and the elderly was unfathomable. Memorial, a Russian human rights group, reported that ``scores of the corpses bore traces of profanation.``
The Congresswoman added that on November 29, 1993, Newsweek quoted a senior U.S. Government official describing the aftermath of Armenia`s occupation, ``What we see now is a systematic destruction of every village in their way. It`s vandalism.``
Members of the congress urged the congress to join Azerbaijanis in commemorating the tragedy. They stressed that the world should know about and remember Khojaly.
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