Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended a commemoration ceremony devoted to the 21st anniversary of Khojaly Genocide

On February 28th,  a commemoration ceremony devoted to the 21st anniversary of Khojaly Genocide was held at Moscow’s “Yunost” Hotel. The event was attended by Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, head of the Russian Representative Office of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva.

Paintings by children being brought up at Children Home №1 of Nizami district, Children Home №2 of Surakhany district and Children Home №3 of Khatai district  of Baku that had participated in the art exhibition “Children and War” held by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation were displayed in the foyer of the Hotel.

A documentary talking of actions held in Russia within the campaign “Justice to Khojaly” was demonstrated at the event.

Leyla Aliyeva mentioned that they got together here to revere memories of the victims of one of the bloody and horrible pages of the Garabagh conflict occurred 21 years ago: “21 year ago, on February 26th,  Armenian armed forces invaded the Azerbaijani city of Khojaly and mercilessly killed 613 peaceful civilians, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly. These 613 innocent and barbarously killed  people will never be forgotten and eternally live in our hearts. The horrible events that took place on that February night should be given a right legal and moral appraisal by the world public”.

Saying “The world should know about Khojaly to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities and crimes in any part of the world”, Leyla Aliyeva noted just for this reason they brought forward, on May 8th, 2008, the initiative to  hold the international campaign “Justice to Khojaly”: “Objective of the campaign is to inform the world public of this tragedy. Over 700 thousand signatures have been collected within this campaign”. Leyla Aliyeva noted that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has been holding events devoted to this tragedy in over 70 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. Within the events, protest actions, pickets are held, as well as seminars, conferences organized before parliaments and state agencies of various countries, books published and films shot. Due to the campaign “Justice to Khojaly”, Khojaly Genocide has been recognized by a series of international organizations.

The Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation mentioned that countries such as Pakistan, Mexico, Czech Republic, Columbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina have recognized the Khojaly tragedy as a genocide and an act of crime against Azerbaijan: “Moreover, 7 states of USA have recognized this genocide. We will carry on our activity in this direction, do more work, and I believe many countries of the world will soon recognize this genocide and the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Daghlyg Garabagh conflict will find its just solution. Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity will be restored and all refugees and internally displaced people return to their native lands and homes.”

Leyla Aliyeva brought to attention the fact that the event was held in the capital of Russia, which has a significant influence upon solution of long-lasting conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “I would like the Russian, like citizens of all other world countries, to know the truth about this terrible event. Of course the works we do today will never return those fallen to life, heal the wounds of those who could manage to survive. We will never forget those women, children and elderly”, she said.

Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu said although Azerbaijan tried to deliver this issue to the world public after the  Khojaly Genocide occurred,  only due to the task-oriented policy of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the last several years and endeavours of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Leyla Aliyeva, the initiator of the campaign “Justice to Khojaly”, which has turned into a world action, the world started to listen to Azerbaijan: “This shows that people in the world have started to differentiate truth from lie. For the sake of preventing the recurrence of such tragedies in any part of the world, we and future generations should not forget the tragedy of Khojaly”.

Then President of the All-Russian Congress of Azerbaijan Mammad Aliyev, retired general-lieutenant Alexander Volokh, the military superintendent of Fuzuli district in 1991-1992, who was conferred on an honorary medal of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan for heroism and civil position, coordinator of the campaign “Justice to Khojaly” Nijat Mammadli took the floor, said the Khojaly tragedy was one of the bloodiest genocides in the world history, and talked about the works done towards delivering the truth about the instigators of this tragedy to the world public.

Members of the Russian public, politicians, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Moscow, employees of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Russia, representatives of the Russian Office of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the All-Russian Congress of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani Youth Organization of Russia participated in the event.