Heads of confessions in Azerbaijan appeal to international organizations over 25th anniversary of Khojaly genocide

Baku. 21 February.REPORT.AZ/ Heads of confessions based in Azerbaijan appeal to World's Religious Leaders, the Parliaments and the International Organizations, to the European Court of Human Rights in regard with the 25th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy.

Report informs, the appeal was signed by the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office Sheikh-ul Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, the Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan Alexander, the Head of the Community of Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan Melih Yevdayev, the Chairman of the Albanian-Udi Christian community in Azerbaijan Robert Mobili.

Expressing the will and the feelings of millions of the people of Azerbaijan, on the eve of the 25th commemoration of the Genocide committed against the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly, the religious leaders appealed to the World Community, regardless of the religious, language, race or ethnic identity. "It is a historical fact that over the night from 25 to 26 of February, 1992, thousands of unarmed and defenseless peaceful people of Khojaly were unexpectedly and brutally attacked by Armenian aggressors. 613 civilians were murdered with exceptional cruelty, with no mercy even to children, elderly people and pregnant women. As a result, Khojaly was wiped out of the ground, while 150 people were missing, 1275 civilians captured and severely tortured, unthinkable atrocity was committed on the bodies of brutally murdered people.

Armenian extremists, intermittently committing ethnic cleansings as well as acts of physical and moral terror against the people of Azerbaijan, have invaded 20 percent of our territories, banished more than one million Azerbaijanis from their home places. They carried out acts of vandalism in the Land of Karabakh to destroy our historical, religious and cultural monuments and relics. The premeditated genocide committed in Khojaly became a culmination of all these atrocities.

Unfortunately, despite 25 years have passed, UN Security Council Resolutions calling for the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian invaders from the occupied Azerbaijani territories not fulfilled, while the Armenian terrorists remain unpunished for the crimes they have committed. Today, a number of the countries and international organizations have already recognized Khojaly tragedy as the act of Genocide.

Above all, despite a whole century have passed over those occurrences which were never been supported on international level by real historical facts, but Armenian aggressors are still trying to politicize them by imposing their false propaganda of the genocide. Efforts to impose that fictitious ‘Armenian genocide’, to present the genocide executors as "genocide victims" and commemorate anniversaries of that false genocide are nothing, but falsification of the History for political reasons. Those, who patronize those false claims should know, that sooner or later the Verity will vanquish and the Justice will be set!

We, the Religious Leaders of different faith, keep the dear memory of all people fallen killed in Karabakh, the integral part of our homeland Azerbaijan , as well as in the town of Khojaly, and wish Peace, Prosperity and Fortune to all the People of the World. Each one of us, we have a sacred duty before The Lord and the Mankind to achieve the Triumph of Justice. Therefore, once again we appeal to the World's Religious Leaders, the Parliaments and the International Organizations, to the European Court of Human Rights and call to stop the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, to give a principled political and legal assessment of the criminal acts, to punish the committers of the crimes and to recognize the Khojaly massacre as the Genocide.

May the Great Creator help us in fair deeds!', the appeal reads.

Photo: Elshan Baba