BAKU, FEB 25 – –For about a year now, the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh has been making efforts to convey the truth about the Khojaly genocide to the global community, and the community intends to act even more intensively in the future, Head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Tural Ganjaliyev told reporters.

Tural Ganjaliyev noted that 10 countries already have recognized the Khojaly genocide.

“All necessary measures will be taken for the recognition of the Khojaly genocide by the rest of the world. We will make every effort to ensure that the former leadership of Armenia responsible for the committing of this genocide – Serzh Sargsyan, Robert Kocharyan, and their assistant Arthur Lukasyan – are held accountable. We will demand that each of them are held responsible before the Azerbaijani people, and this, however, will happen soon,” Ganjaliyev said.

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 districts.

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 districts.