Turkey remembers 1992 Khojaly massacre victims

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın on Feb. 25 remembered the victims of the Khojaly Massacre, which took place in 1992 in Azerbaijan’s now-occupied region of Karabakh during the war with Armenia.

“I commemorate our martyrs on the anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre, in which 613 of our innocent Azerbaijani brothers were slaughtered by the Armenian forces in Upper Karabakh on the evening of Feb. 25-26, 1992,” Kalın wrote on his Twitter account.

In his tweet, Kalın added that Turkey would always stand by Azerbaijan.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey also condemned the Khojaly Massacre in a statement released on the 26th anniversary of the incident.

“Turkey commiserates deeply with the Azeri brothers and sisters over this violent attack and massacre, which they suffered exactly 26 years ago today in Khojaly and shares their pain wholeheartedly,” the statement said.

“We vehemently condemn these massacres carried out by the troops of the Republic of Armenia as well as the continued occupation of the Azerbaijani territories for years,” it added.

“We, hereby, reiterate our call for the perpetrators of this act to be brought to justice per international law and for Armenia to withdraw as soon as possible from the Azerbaijani territories it has occupied,” added the foreign affairs committee, calling on the international community to assign the necessary importance to this massacre.

The committee also conveyed their condolences to all of the people of Azerbaijan.

The massacre of Feb. 25-26, 1992, is regarded as one of the bloodiest and most controversial incidents of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the control of the now-occupied Upper Karabakh region.

On the heels of the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in Karabakh on Feb. 26, 1992, after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks, assisted by an infantry regiment.

When the massacre happened, the population of the town was more than 11,000.

The two-hour offensive killed 613 Azeri citizens, including 116 women and 63 children, while critically injuring 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.