Nineteen years ago, in the early hours of 26 February 1992, Armenian aggressors perpetrated a genocide in the Azerbaijani town of Khojali, thus committing one of the bloodiest crimes in the history of mankind.

Thousands of Baku residents gathered at a memorial to the victims of the tragedy in the city’s Khatai district on the morning of 26 February 2011, to attend a ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of the Khojali genocide.

The ceremony was joined by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The guard of honor was arranged around the memorial.

President Ilham Aliyev laid a wreath at the memorial and paid tribute to victims of the tragedy.

Flowers were also laid by Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Speaker of the Milli Mejlis Ogtay Asadov, Chief-of-Staff of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, and First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO Goodwill Ambassador, MP Mehriban Aliyeva.

Also attending the ceremony were state and government officials, MPs, ministers, leaders of committees, companies and religious confessions, as well as the people of Khojali who have survived the massacre.

The ceremony participants laid roses and carnations at the memorial.

Then the head of state examined the landscaping and reconstruction work carried out in the park where the memorial has been established.

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Ceremonies marking the 19th anniversary of the Khojali genocide show again that the atrocities committed by Armenian aggressors on that bloody night, as well as the horrors of that crime, will never be cast into oblivion. What happened in Khojali is not only a genocide of Azerbaijani people, but also a heinous crime against humanity and mankind. This yet another massacre unleashed against the people of Azerbaijan by Armenian nationalists, who have become hostage of their own “great Armenia” obsession, resulted in the killing of 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 old people. Eight families were totally exterminated, while 25 children lost both parents on that horrific night. A total of 487 people were wounded, 1275 were taken hostage, while 155 are still unaccounted for. During the act of genocide, 56 people were killed with special cruelty, three were burnt alive, many bodies were scalped, dismembered and beheaded, some people’s eyes were hollowed out, pregnant women were stabbed with bayonets. This was a carefully planned act which aimed to fully or partly destroy a people on ethnic grounds. Therefore, according to international law, the Khojali tragedy is nothing but genocide.

Peace-loving people of the planet, civilized states, influential international organizations, the world community must know the bitter truth about the Khojali tragedy. This crime against humanity must receive a legal assessment. The then Azerbaijani authorities did nothing to give a political assessment to this monstrous crime and to communicate objective information about the carnage to the world community. However, after nationwide leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev returned to power, a political and legal assessment to the tragedy was given for the first time. In 1994, on the initiative of great leader Heydar Aliyev, the Azerbaijani parliament declared 26 February the Day of the Khojali Genocide.

Today the Azerbaijani authorities are carrying out consistent and purposeful activities to inform the world community of the crimes perpetrated by Armenian bigots against our people, including the Khojali tragedy and recognition of it as genocide. This is our civil and human obligation to the Khojali victims.

Every year both the citizens of our Azerbaijan and our compatriots living in different countries around the world, as well as representatives of other friendly peoples, mark the anniversary of this horrific tragedy with a bleeding heart. People in almost 60 countries of the world are paying tribute to the victims of the Khojali tragedy these days by conducting rallies and pickets, demonstrating photo and video images that document Armenian atrocities. The world’s influential newspapers are publishing articles, while TV and radio channels are broadcasting programs about the tragedy.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has made a special contribution to informing the world community of the tragedy. The Foundation is conducting a series of activities in different countries across the globe with the aim of communicating the truth about the Khojali genocide to the international community and providing international organizations with materials documenting Armenian atrocities. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has organized exhibitions in many countries where some 100 documentary materials pertaining to the genocide were demonstrated. Publications from the “Truth about Karabakh” series, English-language books and booklets describing the destruction of cultural and historical sites in Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories have been disseminated abroad. The English-language film about the genocide, also prepared by the Foundation, is now available in CD format and is demonstrated in foreign countries.

The “Justice to Khojali” international campaign launched on the initiative of the vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, has continued successfully. The campaign has been joined by volunteers in most countries of the world. The main objective of the campaign is to secure international recognition of the Khojali genocide as the gravest crime against humanity. The petition sent to world leaders and international organizations, posted on the web-site of the same-named web-site, has been signed by over 150,000 people.

According to international law, genocide is an act against peace and humanity and is considered the gravest international crime. Convention No 260, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and entered into force in 1961, describes the legal characteristics of genocide. All the deeds that constitute the crime of genocide apply to Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan. Armenia has been conducting the policy of terrorism before the eyes of the international community for many years, while the norms of international law, the principles of the UN and OSCE require respect for the inviolability of state borders. Violation of territorial integrity and sovereignty is inadmissible. The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions demanding unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani territories, but Armenia, a country conducting the policy of grab, is flouting them.

However, our people, including the people of Khojali who have been settled in 48 districts around Azerbaijan, are living with the hope for a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, liberation of occupied territories and restoration of the country’s territorial integrity. Our people believe that this day is not too far off.