Mayor of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Joy F. Cooper, has signed a declaration on the 30th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Report informs.
The declaration addressed to the Azerbaijani community says that within the framework of Armenia's military aggression and ethnic cleansing policy against Azerbaijan in 1988, the Armenian Armed Forces, with the help of the 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the former Soviet Army, massacred Khojaly residents on the night of February 25-26, 1992. Civilians trying to leave the occupied city were butchered. As a result, the Armenian military killed 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly. Some experts call the Khojaly tragedy "Azerbaijan's Srebrenica."
The document also states that in 1993, the UN Security Council adopted Resolutions 822, 853, 874, and 884, which demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The support of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan by the UN General Assembly, the European Parliament, PACE, the OSCE, the US State Department, and the White House is especially noted.
Joy F. Cooper presented the declaration to the head of the Florida-Azerbaijan Society, Esmira Bayramova.