The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Uzbekistan and the Azerbaijan Cultural Center named after Heydar Aliyev co-organized a commemorative event dedicated to the 31st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

The event was attended by Azerbaijani Ambassador to Uzbekistan Huseyn Guliyev, Executive Secretary of the Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan Friendship Society Erkin Nuriddinov, scientific, cultural and art figures from Uzbekistan, Azerbaijanis living in Tashkent, youth, students, as well as media representatives, the Center told News.Az.

The event participants first observed a minute of silence to honor the memory of the Khojaly genocide victims and those who died as a result of a natural disaster in fraternal Türkiye.

Addressing the event, Ambassador Huseyn Guliyev said 31 years ago, Armenian militants wiped out the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly in one night, brutally killing local hundreds of elderly, women, and children.

The diplomat recalled that in February 1994, on the initiative of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis granted a political and legal assessment of the Khojaly genocide and proclaimed February 26 the Khojaly Genocide Day. Guliyev also spoke about the “Justice for Khojaly” international awareness campaign launched on 8 May 2008 on the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, as well as the measures taken to ensure the recognition of the Khojaly genocide on a global scale. He stressed that the Khojaly genocide has been recognized and condemned by 16 countries and 24 US states until now. He added that to date, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has adopted 13 documents related to the Khojaly genocide. On January 30, 2012, the OIC, which unites 57 countries, officially recognized the Khojaly genocide, stating that this genocide ranked with the great tragedies of the XX century like Khatyn, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Songmi.

Erkin Nuriddinov, Executive Secretary of the Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan Friendship Society, noted that the Khojaly genocide, which was considered one of the great tragedies of human history and took place in front of the eyes of the whole world in the recent past, was a great lesson for humanism. He said every state should recognize this massacre committed against the Azerbaijani people as a crime against humanity, and they should take practical actions to prevent such tragedies from recurrence.

The event also featured an exhibition of photos and books on the Khojaly genocide and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, as well as the screening of a film about the Khojaly genocide.

News.Az