Today is the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly Genocide
At the end of 1987, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia openly laid claim to the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Daghlyq Garabagh) Autonomous Oblast of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. Contrary to the Constitution of the Soviet Union, which guaranteed the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of the Union Republics, both the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and members of the Armenian community of the territory adopted a number of decisions to institute the process of unilateral secession of the autonomous region from Azerbaijan. At the end of 1991 and the beginning of 1992, Armenia initiated combat operations on the territory of Azerbaijan. As a result, a significant part of the territory of Azerbaijan, including the Daghlyq Garabagh region and seven adjacent districts, was occupied by Armenia.
In 1993 the United Nations Security Council adopted a series of four resolutions condemning the use of force against Azerbaijan and the occupation of its territories by Armenian forces, reaffirming respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the international borders of Azerbaijan, confirming that Daghlyq Garabagh is part of Azerbaijan and demanding the immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all its territories. The same position has been adopted by other international organizations.
The war led to the deaths and wounding of thousands of people, while hundreds of thousands became refugees and were forcibly displaced and several thousand disappeared without trace. The capture of Khojaly was particularly tragic. Before the conflict, 7,000 people lived in this town of the Daghlyq Garabagh region of Azerbaijan. From October 1991, the town was entirely surrounded by the Armenian forces. Over the night of the 25 to 26 February 1992, following massive artillery bombardment of Khojaly, the assault on the town began from various directions. The attack and capture of the town involved the extermination of hundreds of Azerbaijanis, including women, children and the elderly, and thousands of civilians were wounded and taken hostage, many of whom remain missing, while the town was razed to the ground.
The crime in Khojaly: perpetrators, qualification and responsibility under international law