Much has been done, but more work is required to restore justice for Khojaly - PHOTOS

Prior to the event, a presentation of the clip rap song in English "Justice for Khojaly" was held.

The event was opened by the head of Russian representation of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva. At her request, the hall paid a minute of silence to the memory of the victims.

In her opening speech, Leyla Aliyeva told participants of the event about the tragedy of Khojaly residents, hundreds of victims of Armenian aggression, including women, children and the old people.

"On the Khojaly it was told in the European Parliament and the UN headquarters, the building of the ICTY and other international organizations. A rock festival was held in Zurich, as well as numerous activities in universities. This is only part of more than seventy actions, held during the year. The campaign was realized by the variety of methods - conferences, seminars, hearings, pickets, distributing leaflets, stickers", said the head of AYOR.

According to her, during the campaign unique projects   which pursue a goal to convey the pain of the Azerbaijani people to the very different audiences around the world were implemented.

An important part of the campaign "Justice for Khojaly," says Leyla Aliyeva, is the publication of the book of Russian writer-historian and public figure, Yuri Pompeyev "Karabakh Diary". Reliable historical facts about the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are collected in the book.

Justice for Khojaly was launched a year ago by AYOR together with other international youth organizations. According to Aliyeva, the actions within the program took place in more than 30 countries and covered all continents.

"Youth Forum of the OIC has already raised the issue of recognition of Khojaly tragedy on a global level. Most recently, on the basis of proposals of the Forum of the OIC Parliamentary Council, which consists of the parliaments of 51 countries, put forward a resolution recognizing the events in Khojaly as a crime against humanity. This is a great political achievement. As you see, much has been done, but we are faced to do more to restore justice for the Khojaly in order to such tragedies will never occur", concluded the head of AYOR.

She thanked all those who supports the campaign and takes an active part in it.

"Like the rest of the Azerbaijani people, I believe that the conflict will soon be justly resolved, and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored", concluded Leyla Aliyeva.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu noted the importance of the campaign "Justice for Khojaly", stressed the role and activity of young people in promoting the truth about the terrible tragedy that befell Azerbaijani people.

"I am pleased that today in this hall came a lot of young people, because you will lead the world in the future. We should not forget about the tragedy that occurred in Khojaly and the violation which our people have suffered 18 years ago. Our duty is to bring the truth about this tragedy to the whole world" said Polad Bulbuloglu.

According to him, as a result of this campaign it is felt that the attitude of the international community is gradually changing and this campaign has an effective influence on public opinion in different countries.

"Here I would like to note specially the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva about the campaign "Justice for Khojaly", which now goes around the world, and doers of this idea, young people who really convey the tragedy of Khojaly by all available means - let this be a song in the style of rap or books, photographs, brochures, booklets. We must make the world look at this tragedy with our eyes", said Polad Bulbuloglu.

The Ambassador noted that the present time is full of double standards, "when our people can not prove what is white and what is black" and in this context should not underestimate the importance of this campaign.

As an example, he mentioned an article which appeared on Friday in Russia's "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" newspaper, devoted to the tragedy in Khojaly.

In his conclusion, Polad Bulbuloglu wished young Azerbaijanis, many of which are studying at prestigious universities in Russia, to become good specialists, valuable people to their homeland, and never forget about happened in the Azerbaijani Karabakh land and be able to bring the truth of Azerbaijan to the whole world.

Speaking at the event, the secretary general of the Youth Forum of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Elshad Iskenderov also noted the importance of the international campaign initiated by Leyla Aliyeva.

"During the year, the campaign "Justice for Khojaly" acquired the scale and drew into its orbit thousands of participants. The main mechanism of the campaign became the website justiceforkhojaly.org. Today starts a new stage of implementing this idea, taking into account that a large number of people worldwide have supported our activity - national coordinators of the program work in 25 countries. Khojaly pain should not remain oppressive fact in the collective consciousness of only the people of Azerbaijan. Non-recognition of this truth by the world community will have disastrous consequences.

The world must recognize the tragic events as genocide and share the pain of our people. The aim of the new phase is the international recognition of the tragedy of Khojaly. The site includes a petition, which is designed so that anyone on the planet would be able to send a short message, which reflects the essence of what happened in Khojaly, and ask world leaders to recognize the tragedy as a crime against humanity ", said Elshad Iskenderov.

He expressed the confidence that in such way will be collected many signatures and 10 December, World Human Rights Day, they will be sent to the recipients - the Heads of State and Government of the OSCE Minsk Group, the leading international organizations, parliaments of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, UN Secretary-General.

"I am sure that the appeal of citizens of the world, regardless of nationality and religion, which expresses the pain of our people will not be overlooked", said the representative of the youth organization of the OIC.

Armenian military forces committed genocide acts in the town of Khojali, Azerbaijan, with the population of 7,000 people on Feb. 26 1992. There were 3,000 people in the town at the time of Armenian military forces' attack. Most part of the population had to leave town during four months blockade. 613 people were killed, 1,000 peaceful people of different age became invalid during Khojali genocide. 106 women, 63 children, 70 old men were killed. 8 families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parents, while 25 both of them. 1,275 peace residents were taken hostages, while the fate of 150 of them is still unknown.

Justice for Khojaly campaign initiated by Mrs. Leyla Aliyeva, General Coordinator of Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation started May 8, 2008.


/Trend News/

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