Brazilian journalist: Azerbaijan's Khojaly tragedy must be recognised as genocide

Brazilian journalist Fabiana Ceyhan, one of the first foreign reporters who visited Azerbaijan's liberated territories, has stressed the urgent need for the Khojaly tragedy to be recognised as genocide.

In an exclusive interview with Report news agency, she said that this recognition is essential to prevent such atrocities from happening again in the future, Caliber.Az informs.

Ceyhan, who was in Khojaly shortly after its liberation, reminded the world that the town had no military facilities, and the attack on the civilian population was both unjustifiable and indefensible.

She stated that it had been a small town with no military forces and emphasised that the murder of women and children, along with the destruction of families, was a huge human tragedy.

She expressed her belief that the world must remember this event and recognise the Khojaly genocide to prevent such atrocities from occurring again. She added that, regardless of where people come from, everyone must unite for peace and justice in the name of Khojaly. 

The journalist, visibly shaken by the horrors she witnessed in Karabakh, shared her experience of the risks she took to get there. Ceyhan recounted that she had been one of the first journalists who visited the region after its liberation from Armenian occupation. 

She mentioned that it had been definitely risky, with many mines, no airport, and no transportation infrastructure. However, they had decided to take the risk to witness everything with their own eyes. Ceyhan emphasised that the question of Karabakh had become a personal mission for her. 

She said that they had confirmed, from both a historical and geographical perspective, that Karabakh belonged to Azerbaijan, highlighting the undeniable ties the region had to the country.

The Khojaly genocide is the gravest crime committed against peaceful Azerbaijani people in the course of Armenia’s aggressive war against Azerbaijan. On the night of February 25-26, 1992, in violation of all international legal norms, Armenian armed forces attacked the civilian population of the sieged town of Khojaly with heavy military equipment, killing them with unprecedented brutality and razing the town to the ground. As a result of crime against not only the people of Azerbaijan but against humanity, 613 civilian Azerbaijanis, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 elders were brutally murdered on grounds of national identity. The Khojaly genocide is one of a series of acts of mass slaughter aiming to crush those who rose up for the defence of their lands from Armenian armed forces’ aggression.

By Naila Huseynova