Ilham Aliyev attends ceremony to commemorate Khojaly genocide victims

On the night of February 25-26 1992, Armenian occupants committed one of the bloodiest crimes in the history of humanity in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.

Thousands of Baku residents arrived at the Khojaly memorial in Khatai district on February 26 to pay tribute to victims of the genocide on its 28th anniversary.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the commemorative ceremony.

A ceremonial guard of honor was lined up around the memorial.

President Ilham Aliyev put a wreath at the memorial and paid tribute to Khojaly victims.

First lady Mehriban Aliyeva, state and government officials and heads of religious confessions, put flowers at the monument.

The atrocity committed by Armenians in the town of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of 25-26 February 1992 went down in the history of Azerbaijan as a bloody page.

Of 3,000 people, who were in the town at the moment of the attack, 613 were killed, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elders; 487 people were severely wounded, including 76 children; 1,275 people were captured and subjected to unprecedented torture; the fate of 197 people remains unknown. Eight families were annihilated. All these people were slaughtered, tortured, and disabled solely because of their ethnic background, only for being Azerbaijanis.

This genocidal act by the Armenians was deliberately planned, and its only objective was to wholly or partially wipe out civilians because of their nationality. These actions are defined as genocide under international law, which must be recognized by the world community.

The real essence of this genocide, committed before the world's eyes, was uncovered after national leader Heydar Aliyev's coming to political power. On the initiative of the national leader, the Khojaly genocide received a political and legal assessment, and February 26 was declared "Day of Khojaly Genocide." Launched by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva in 2008, the "Justice for Khojaly" international campaign boosted the awareness-raising efforts even more. The campaign has contributed to increasing the international community's awareness of the truth about this genocide, exposing the Armenian nationalists who resort to any violence, including the murder of children, to reach their ridiculous and heinous plans. As a result of systematic work, what happened in Khojaly was recognized as a genocidal act by the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as the parliaments of Mexico, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Sudan, Guatemala, and Djibouti. The parliaments of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Jordan, Slovenia, and Scotland, as well as executive and legislative bodies of 22 American states, recognized Khojaly events as a massacre.