(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 26. Hürriyet Daily
News, the oldest current English-language daily paper in Türkiye,
has published an article about the Khojaly genocide, trend reports.
The article read that, on the night of February 26, 1992, the
most terrible massacre of the first Karabakh war occurred.
'The Khojaly genocide, as it is called, claimed the lives of
hundreds of innocent Azerbaijani people. The Armenian armed forces,
who launched an assault on the Azerbaijani city of Khojaly, did not
show any mercy to women, the elderly, or children. Even though the
so-called 'corridor' was created for the residents of Khojaly to
leave the city, those people were attacked on the way. As a result
of the massacre, 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 63
children and 70 elderly people; 1,000 people were wounded due to
brutal torture; and 1,275 were captured. Many of the residents of
the city went missing, and their fate remains unknown to this day,'
the article said.
The publication mentioned that many journalists and
photographers both from Azerbaijan and all over the world revealed
the horrific images of this genocide. Such tabloids as the New York
Times, TIME magazine, The Independent, and many others covered this
story.
'In particular, the footage shot by famous Azerbaijani
journalist Chingiz Mustafayev was to become one of the most
memorable ones related to the Khojaly genocide. And that footage
shocked the whole world. It was obvious that those innocent
civilians who were trying to escape and died on the way were the
victims of this brutal massacre,' the article added.
The newspaper pointed out that the sad reality is that, when
armed conflicts happen, children, as the most vulnerable members of
society, suffer the most from the consequences of military actions.
After 8 Azerbaijani families were massacred, 25 Azerbaijani
children were left without both parents, 130 children lost one of
their parents, and 76 children sustained various injuries.
'A documentary called 'They will never grow up', dedicated to
the children of Khojaly, created with the assistance of the Council
of State Support to NGOs under the President of Azerbaijan and the
Recognition of Armenian Aggression Public Union, described the
stories of those who were able to survive this massacre,' the
publication noted.
'What happened in Khojaly 31 years ago during the first Karabakh
war grossly contradict the U.N. Declaration on the Protection of
Women and Children in Emergency Situations and Armed Conflict. This
is just one part of the ethnic cleansing the Armenian armed forces
have been carrying out against Azerbaijani people. Nevertheless,
even when the peace with Armenians is achieved, Azerbaijan will
never be able to accept this pain and loss brought upon its people.
Those bloody chapters of the history will be remembered forever,'
the article concluded.