Ukrainian online conference exposes shocking aspects of Azerbaijan’s Khojaly genocide

An all-Ukrainian online conference on "Khojaly genocide - a tragedy for all mankind" was held in Kyiv.

According to Report, the organizers were the Azerbaijani embassy in Ukraine together with the Ukrainian-Turkic Center. About 150 students and teachers from different universities of Ukraine joined the online event.

Speakers included Azerbaijani Ambassador to Ukraine Seymur Mardaliyev; Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada MP Serhiy Nahornyak, co-founder of the Ukrainian-Turkic Center; Lithuanian journalist, eyewitness of the first Karabakh War, Richardas Lapaitis; Associate Professor of the Department of New and Modern History of Foreign Countries at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Associate Professor, Candidate of Historical Sciences Oleh Kupchik; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Director of the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani Cultural and Business Center of the National Technical University Dnipro Polytechnic Hennadiy Onishchenko; Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the History Department of Sumy State University Anatoliy Goncharenko.

The event was moderated by co-founder of the Ukrainian-Turkic Center Marina Goncharuk, who presented information about the tragic events, as well as the recognition of genocide by the international community. A presentation and a video about the Khojaly tragedy were also presented to the participants at the conference.

According to Azerbaijani Ambassador Seymur Mardaliyev, one of the most brutal crimes committed against the population during Armenia's many-year aggression against Azerbaijan and one of the most tragic pages in the history of Azerbaijan was the genocide of the inhabitants of the town of Khojaly, where 7,000 people lived before the conflict. Within the framework of Armenia's occupation policy before the Khojaly genocide, the Azerbaijani population was brutally killed and pre-planned massacres were committed in other settlements, including Malibayli, Garadagli, Meshali, and others.

"The facts of the tragic events in Khojaly show that the crimes committed in this city of Azerbaijan were not a random or exceptional fact, but were part of Armenia's systemic aggressive policy. The targeted massacre of civilians in Khojaly was a crime that was a consequence of the policy of ethnic hatred and racial discrimination against Azerbaijanis at the state level in Armenia and was aimed at the mass murder of people simply because of their ethnicity," Seymur Mardaliyev said.

Ukrainian MP Serhiy Nahornyak said that Ukrainians share the grief of the Azerbaijani people and honor the memory of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy.

"The perpetrators of this crime showed the anti-human face of terrorists and those who seize other people's territories. These were not only Armenians but also Russian soldiers from the 366th motorized rifle regiment. Because of the impunity of those who committed the Khojaly massacre, today we see the monstrous scale of similar crimes, particularly in Ukraine. The civilized world has no right to forget the Khojaly tragedy.

“International law does not tolerate precedents of impunity for criminals; this increases the scale of crimes many times over. Unfortunately, the world community turned a blind eye, including to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories committed by Armenia, the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from their lands, and the precedents of massacres, and heinous crimes against the peaceful and defenseless population. Unfortunately, all these evils have increased manifold, while the international community and international institutions, which should suppress attempts to violate international law and apply sanctions to aggressor countries, are inactive today," said Serhiy Nahornyak.

Lithuanian journalist Richardas Lapaitis shared his memories of his stay in Azerbaijan during the days of the Khojaly massacre. According to him, a huge number of wounded and killed people were brought to the city of Aghdam every day, and the world community took an unfair position in assessing the actions of the aggressor country.

All that happened in Khojaly, the world then saw in Bucha and other de-occupied territories of Ukraine. Perhaps, if the aggressor had been punished then, back in the early 1990s, similar tragedies would not have happened," Lapaitis said.

Associate Professor of the Department of New and Modern History of Foreign Countries at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Associate Professor, Candidate of Historical Sciences Oleh Kupchik, and other speakers dwelt in detail on the history of the tragedy and assessment of the events from the point of view of international law and human rights.

The online event was attended by students and teachers from the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Cherkasy National University; the Dnipro Polytechnic National Technical University; the Western Ukrainian National University; the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, the Kyiv National Linguistic University, the Sumy State University and others.