News

Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) commemorated the 23rd year of Khojaly Genocide. The attendees honored the memory of the victims of Khojaly massacre in a minute’s silence. Making the opening speech, Elmar Gasimov, the Rector of BHOS, spoke about the Khojaly Genocide, the lasting traces of blood memory of Azerbaijan, as the most outrageous and unprecedented massacre of the 20th century towards the humanity. He underlined that Khojaly Genocide was not the only massacre committed by the Armenians against Azerbaijanis. He also recalled the events which happened in last and the beginning of the centuries emphasizing the similar massacres committed in Guba, Baku, Shamakhi and other regions of the country. Mentioning the fact that Khojaly Genocide was organized in a planned and deliberate manner, the very brutal tragedy towards the humanity, Mr. Gasimov said that over the night from February 25 to 26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces with support of hard equipment and the personnel of the infantry guards regiment number 366 occupied Khojaly city which was besieged and totally burnt out. 613 people out of 2500 residents of the city completely destroyed within a day were shot down. These included 63 children, 106 women, 70 elders. 8 families were killed completely, 25 children lost both parents, while some 130 children lost one of the parents; 487 people were wounded, 76 of them were children; 1275 residents of Khojaly were captured out of which some 150 people were still missing. The Rector added that those who committed the crime were now representing the political elite of the Armenian government adding that it was the very indicator that showed which values and qualities Armenians owned. He felt confident that thanks to President Ilham Aliyev’s successful policy and Azerbaijan’s patience Khojaly Genocide would be recognized by the world community and those who committed these tragedies would be punished.

Mr. Hadi Rajabli, the Chairman of the Social Policy Committee of the National Assembly, had also attended the event. During his speech he mentioned that the governments of Azerbaijan, its diplomatic representatives abroad and the Diasporas have been applying to international organizations for the recognition of Khojaly massacre and were still continuing their efforts.

Underlying that those efforts resulted in recognition of the Genocide and criticism by the parliaments of some countries, Mr. Rajabli emphasized that the legal recognition of the Genocide by the world community was one of the significant issues for Azerbaijan. He also added that now was the time for struggle of the brains, but not of the arms and the influence of the media war was even deeper and more threatening, and that was one of the basic reasons why Azerbaijan needed smart and intelligent young people who valueed their national identity and history. He called the youth for being more active in the process of demanding recognition of Khojaly Genocide and briefed on the decisive policy run by the government in this regard.

At the end, a short video film on Khojaly Genocide made by BHOS students was demonstrated.