the KHOJALY MASSACRE!

The Khojaly Massacre was the killing of hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from the town of Khojaly on 25–26 February 1992 by the Armenian and Russian armed forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. According to the Azerbaijani side, as well as Memorial Human Rights Center, Human Rights Watch and other international observers, the massacre was committed by the ethnic Armenian armed forces, reportedly with help of the Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment, apparently not acting on orders from the command. The official death toll provided by Azerbaijani authorities is 613 civilians, including 106 women and 83 children. The event became the largest massacre in the course of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In 1988 the town had about 2,000 inhabitants. Due to the Nagorno-Karabakh war and the population exchanges between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as Meskhetian Turk refugees leaving Central Asia and subsequently settling in the town, this grew to 6,000 by 1991. The town of Khojaly was located on the road that connected Shusha, Stepanakert and Agdam and had the region's only airport. According to reports from Human Rights Watch, Khojaly was used as a base for Azerbaijani forces shelling the city of Stepanakert, and in turn was shelled by Armenian forces.
According to Human Rights Watch, the tragedy struck when “a large column of residents, accompanied by a few dozen retreating fighters, fled the city as it fell to Armenian forces. As they approached the border with Azerbaijan, they came across an Armenian military post and were cruelly fired upon”.
The Khojaly Massacre was described by Human Rights Watch as "the largest massacre to date in the conflict" over Nagorno-Karabakh. Memorial, the Moscow-based human rights group, stated in their report that the mass killing of civilians in Khojaly could not be justified under any circumstances and that actions of Armenian militants were in gross violation of a number of basic international human rights conventions. Estimating the number of the civilians killed in the massacre, Human Rights Watch stated that "there are no exact figures for the number of Azeri civilians killed because Karabakh Armenian forces gained control of the area after the massacre". A 1993 report by Human Rights Watch put the number of deaths at least 161, although later reports state the number of deaths as at least 200. According to Human Rights Watch, "while it is widely accepted that 200 Azeris were murdered, as many as 500-1,000 may have died".

·           613 people were killed, among them, 63 children, 106 women, 70 elders.
·         8 families were killed completely.
·         25 children lost both parents.
·         130 children lost one of the parents.
·         487 people were wounded, including 76 children
·         1275 people were hostages.
·         150 people were missing

Those days foreign newspapers wrote:
“Crual L’Eveneman” magazine (Paris), March 25, 1992: “The Armenians attacked Khojali district. The whole world became the witness of the disfigured dead bodies. Azeris speak about thousand killed people”.
“Sunday Times” newspaper (London), March 1, 1992: “Armenian soldiers annihilated the hundred families”.
“Financial times” newspaper (London), March 9, 1992: “…Armenains shot down the column of refugees, fled to Aghdam. The Azerbaijani side counted up about 1200 dead bodies…
… The cameraman from Lebanon confirmed that the rich dashnak community of his country send the weapon and people to Karabakh”.
“Times” newspaper (London), March 4, 1992: … “Many people were mutilated, and it was remained only the head of one little girl”
“Izvestiya” newspaper (Moscow), March 4, 1992: “…Camcoder showed the kids with the cut off ears. One old woman were cut off the half of her face. The men were scalped…”
“Financial Times”, March 14, 1992: “General Polyakov said 103 Armenian servicemen from regiment No 366 stayed in Nagorni Karabakh”.
“Le Mond” newspaper (Paris), March 14, 1992: “… The foreign journalists in Aghdam saw the women and three scalped children with the pulled off nails among the killed people. This is not “Azerbaijani propaganda”, but reality”
“Izvestiya” newspaper, March 13, 1992:
“Major Leonid Kravets: “I saw about hundred dead bodies on the hill. One little boy was without head. Everywhere were the dead bodies of women, children, elders killed with the particular brutality”.
“Valer actuel” magazine (Paris), March 14, 1992: “…in this “autonomous region” Armenian armed forces together with the people who are natives of Near East have the most modern military equipment, including the helicopters. ASALA has military bases and ammunition depots in Syria and Lebanon. Armenians annihilated Azerbaijanis of Karabakh, implemented bloody massacre in more than 100 Moslem villages”.
PEACE BE UPON ALL KHOJALY (GENOCİDE) VİCTİMS!