Azerbaijan is already at the beginning of a new era. In the history of independence of a state that has ensured its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the liberation of our land from Armenian occupation in the 44-day Patriotic War under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Zafar Muzaffar, President Ilham Aliyev, which took place within the framework of territorial integrity, was forever etched in our history and we got our ancestral homeland. Mr. President personally visits the territories liberated after the war, and gives his messages about the upcoming tasks from those lands. He raises his voice and gives his messages as the victorious COMMANDER of the victorious army and state from every area, the world sees and hears it.
Of course, even though today we live as a victorious nation, the tragedies we experienced in the past years are engraved on the pages of our history, and that historical period is etched in our memory. It has been 32 years since the Khojaly genocide, which is one of the most terrible crimes against humanity in the history of mankind, and which proved Armenia’s policy of ethnic genocide against Azerbaijanis. All these years we have been waiting for the day when we will return to these lands. On February 26, Khojaly Genocide Day was celebrated in Khojaly by commemorating the innocent victims of Khojaly. President Ilham Aliyev laid the foundation of the Khojaly Genocide Memorial in the city of Khojaly and met with representatives of the district community.
“Thirty-two years later – after that bloody tragedy, we live, build, and restore in every corner of Azerbaijan, in every part of Karabakh, as owners, as children of this Motherland. Extensive construction works are underway in all liberated lands.” – said our head of state. It will be established by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation on the Khojaly-Asgaran highway. The Khojaly Genocide Memorial is important in conveying the truth about the terrible massacre against humanity to the world community, protecting the national memory of the Azerbaijani people, and perpetuating the memory of the victims of the genocide.
The Khojaly genocide is a terrible event that will never be erased from the memory of our people. On February 26, 1992, Armenian aggressors committed genocide in the city of Khojaly, Azerbaijan, which is one of the bloodiest tragedies in the history of mankind. With the Khojaly genocide, the Armenians made Khojaly disappear from the face of the earth and destroy it. Khojaly was razed to the ground in one night. The consequences of Khojaly genocide were very terrible. As a result of this massacre, 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people were mercilessly killed, 487 people were maimed, 1275 civilians were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 people is still unknown. As a result of this act of genocide, 8 families were completely destroyed, 25 children lost both their parents. As the president said, the people of Azerbaijan will never forget this bloody crime.
It is known that the “Justice to Khojaly” campaign, organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, is continuously implemented in order to gain recognition of the Khojaly genocide by the world community, to give a legal and political value to this criminal act, to raise awareness at the international level about this genocide, mass killings, ethnic cleansing is very important in terms of showing great resistance to cases of racial, religious and ethnic discrimination. As a result of the activities carried out within the campaign, the legislative bodies of 18 states, 24 states of the USA, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Organization of Turkic States condemned this brutal massacre and assessed it as genocide, and relevant decisions and resolutions were adopted. “However, there are no names of big powers among these countries. International organizations, many of them are indifferent to this tragedy,” said the President, saying that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation made great efforts to introduce the Khojaly genocide to the world. Thus, “Justice to Khojaly!”, which has gained wide spread under the line of Heydar Aliyev Foundation. within the framework of the campaign, many events and presentations were held in different parts of the world, books, articles were published, and exhibitions were organized. As the president emphasized, we rightly demanded justice from the world”. Because the Khojaly genocide is a bloody crime that took place before the eyes of the world. It is unfair and dishonest to deny the Khojaly genocide. However, the Armenian state, the same forces and countries behind it then and now they did everything possible to cover up this incident and not bring Armenia to responsibility”.
According to the results of the Second Karabakh War, according to the tripartite Declaration signed on November 10, 2020, the city of Khojaly was under the control of the Russian Peacekeeping contingent. He was released as a result of local anti-terrorist operations conducted on September 19, 2023. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on October 15 in the city of Khojaly State Bay of the Republic of Azerbaijan