Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Khojaly - remember for the sake of the future

Nezavisimaya Gazeta carries an article over the 30th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Report presents the text of the article:

Every year on February 26, the tragedy of the city of Khojaly, which happened in 1992 during the first war in Karabakh, is remembered in different countries worldwide. At that time, the Armenian forces stormed this settlement inhabited by Azerbaijanis and the result of the operation was the deaths of several hundred civilians, who tried to escape. Many books have been written about those tragic events, films have been shot, but all this does not allow us to say that the bloody history has remained in the past and has been lived through.

The tragedy of Khojaly, which happened during the storming of this city during the first war in Karabakh, is remembered 30 years after the incident. Then the city, which was of strategic importance for the defense of the Azerbaijani army, after several days of artillery preparation on February 26, was stormed by the Armenian forces. Until the last day, civilians remained in Khojaly, some of whom tried to leave the dangerous place, but everything ended in tragedy. After the start of the assault, the Azerbaijanis living in the city tried to leave it, heading towards Aghdam, but on the way, they came under repeated attacks.

Although some of the refugees moved along the "free corridor", allegedly especially left by the representatives of the Armenian forces, along this route, women, the elderly, and children came under fire several times and were also subjected to unmotivated attacks.

In addition to those who were killed by various types of weapons, dozens of civilians (mainly women and children) died from hypothermia in the forests. Also, as representatives of Azerbaijan reported, over 1,000 citizens were captured. According to experts, within four days after the assault on Khojaly, about 200 bodies were taken to Aghdam alone, in total, 613 people were killed during the Khojaly tragedy. Among those killed were 63 children, 106 women, 70 elderly, and old men. Even more, people were captured, and the fate of 150 of them is still unknown. As can be understood from the testimonies of witnesses, civilians were especially captured for the subsequent exchange, that is, they were used as hostages.

What happened was the largest and most brutal mass bloodshed during the first war in Karabakh. What happened near Khojaly is quite clearly described in the reports of international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Memorial (in Russia, it is included by the Ministry of Justice in the registry of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent). Thomas de Waal (The Black Garden) and Yuri Romanov (I Film the War) spoke about what happened in their frank and extremely shocking books. The terrible event was reported by the media of different countries following the events in Karabakh.

“When we flew up to the snow-covered hills of Nagorno-Karabakh, we saw corpses lying all over the field. Quite obviously, they were refugees shot while trying to escape,” British journalist Anatol Lieven described what he saw.

The worst was that eyewitnesses noted on the bodies of the dead traces of desecration and wounds and injuries that did not appear as a result of accidental hits by bullets and shrapnel but were inflicted on purpose. Civilians, including the elderly and children, have become the victims of a senseless rampage that cannot be justified even by the bitterness of the military.

The killing of inhabitants of Khojaly immediately shocked Azerbaijan - in March, the famous photographs with the bodies of the dead, taken by cameraman Chingiz Mustafayev, were shown in parliament and caused shock in the republic.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Khojaly horror. It is customary to say that a tragedy has been lived through if lessons have been learned from it, those responsible for it have been punished, and the victims have come to terms with the losses. Apparently, what happened in Khojaly in 1992 has not yet been lived through, although in many countries, the tragedy is remembered and its victims are honored. For example, the events in Khojaly were recognized as a massacre in two dozen US states and several countries, including Pakistan and Israel, and in some states (for example, in Mexico, Turkey, Colombia, Guatemala), the incident got even more harsh assessments.

Memorials in memory of the Khojaly tragedy were erected in Turkey and Germany. But the relatives and friends of the victims still do not want to come to terms with the losses, remembering that the perpetrators have not been brought to justice, the organizers and executors have not recognized the criminality of their misdeeds, have not repented for it, and the very fact of the extermination of civilians is hushed up. Azerbaijan was able to return to Karabakh under its control and today its representatives say that they are ready for a peaceful life with their neighbors, but without recognizing the crime, the path to peace will be very long, and forgetting the tragedy is dangerous because it can happen again.