Today.Az » Politics » Azerbaijan will liberate occupied lands : Mountain Jews
20 February 2014 [14:36] - Today.Az


By AzerNews

Head of the religious community of Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan Milih Evdayev says no one can break the will of the Azerbaijan's nation to liberate the occupied lands.

Speaking at Caucasian Muslim Board (CMB) on the 22nd anniversary of Khojaly tragedy, he cited a famous proverb saying "If you want peace, get ready for war". He went on adding that Azerbaijan's economy is currently at a level that the state can release the occupied territories.

Evdayev also noted that the people in Azerbaijan have always lived together, adding, Azerbaijanis want their occupied territories to be released.

Caucasian Muslim Board (CMB) has sent a letter to world's religious leaders, parliaments, international organizations, and the European Court of Human Rights, urging them to recognize the Khojaly genocide.

In 1992, the town of Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces.

613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent.

Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. Civilians were shot at close range, scalped, and burned alive. Some had their eyes gouged out and others were beheaded.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions calling on Armenia to withdraw from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been implemented yet.

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