The Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, DC, organized a commemorative event on the 30th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide at the Kennedy Center in the United States.
The event was attended by diplomats of the Azerbaijani Embassy, Turkish Ambassador to Washington Murat Mercan, active members of the Azerbaijani community living in Washington and representatives of the American public.
A minute of silence was observed in memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide at the commemoration ceremony entitled "Truth and Justice".
Azerbaijani Arzu Mammadova said that she and her family fled Karabakh as a result of the Armenian aggression. She told the participants about Armenia's aggressive policy in Azerbaijan at different times and the Khojaly tragedy.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to the United States Khazar Ibrahim said that the Khojaly tragedy was a part of the policy of genocide pursued by Armenians against Azerbaijanis. The ambassador said that this terrible tragedy could only be compared with the bloody massacres, such as the Holocaust, Khatyn, Holodomor, Srebrenica.
Turkish Ambassador to Washington Murat Mercan also addressed the event. In his speech, the ambassador said that the Khojaly tragedy, which killed hundreds of Azerbaijanis and injured thousands, is a tragedy of the entire Turkic world. The diplomat noted that the aggressor Armenia violated the norms and principles of international law and committed the most serious crime of the century against the civilians in Khojaly. "We must not forget and live down this tragedy," the ambassador said, noting the importance of organizing various events to inform the US public about the Khojaly tragedy.
The video address of the American journalist Thomas Goltz, who went to Khojaly in January 1991, was presented at the commemorative event. He shared with the guests the horrors he witnessed in Khojaly.
After the official part, pieces from classical works dedicated to the memory of Khojaly victims were performed by a researcher of Azerbaijani mugham Jeffrey Werbock and head of the National Music and Global Culture Society, famous pianist Nargiz Aliyarova.
At the end of the event, the "Khojaly Genocide" magazine, which publishes news and facts about the Khojaly tragedy from various international media outlets, were presented to the guests.