By Trend

Azerbaijan has held a minute of silence at 17:00 (GMT +4) to pay tribute to the Khojaly genocide victims, Trend reports on Feb.26.

The movement of traffic and pedestrians in Azerbaijan was stopped for a minute to honor the tragedy victims.

The minute of silence was accompanied by horns of vehicles, metro cars and ships in the Bay of Baku.

State flags were lowered in Azerbaijani cities and regions, as well as in the country’s diplomatic missions abroad.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions.

During the Karabakh war, on Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.