XOCALINI UNUTMA!
46
"Heroic and courageous sons of our nation fighting for the
sake of protection of our lands have become martyrs. But the
Khodjaly tragedy has significant place in all of these events.
From one hand it's a sample of faith of each Khodjaly inhabitant
to own land, nation and Motherland. From other hand, it's a
genocide caused by the nationalistic and barbarian forces of
Armenia against Azerbaijan as well as an unprecedented
expression of bigotry"
Heydar Aliyev
At the end of 1991 and the beginning of 1992 Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
turned into a military phase. Taking advantage of the political instability as a result
of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and internal squabbles in Azerbaijan, Armenia
initiated with the external military assistance combat operations in Nagorny
Karabakh.
In February 1992, an unprecedented massacre was committed against the
Azerbaijani population in the town of Khojaly. This bloody tragedy, which became
known as the Khojaly genocide, involved the extermination or capture of the
thousands of Azerbaijanis; the town was razed to the ground. Over the night from 25
to 26 February 1992 the Armenian armed forces with the help of the infantry guards
regiment No. 366 of the former USSR implemented the seizure of Khojaly - a small
town situated in the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan with
the total area of 0.94 sq. km. and the population before the conflict of 23,757.
The inhabitants of Khojaly remained in the town before the tragic night (about
2500 people) tried to leave their houses after the beginning of the assault in the hope
to find the way to the nearest place populated by the Azerbaijanis. But these plans
have failed. Invaders destroyed Khojaly and with particular brutality implemented
carnage over its peaceful population.
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