<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" ALINK="BLUE" VLINK="RED" LINK="NAVY"> <font face="georgia, verdana, arial, helvetica, sans serif"> <CENTER><U><B><FONT SIZE=6 FACE="TIMES"><BIG> KHOJALY</BIG></FONT></B></U></CENTER> <BR><BR> <P> <HR> This is the first Website devoted to the tragic events which took place in Khojaly, (known as Xocali and Khodjaly in the Azerbaijani and Russian spellings, respectively) which used to be an Azerbaijani populated town in <A HREF="maps.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Azerbaijan Maps';return true">the Karabakh (Qarabag in Azerbaijani) region of Azerbaijan</A> with a population of 7 thousand people<A HREF="footnote.htm#1" onmouseover="window.status='Footnote [1]';return true"><SUP><B>[1]</B></SUP></A>, where Armenian militants accomplished a brutal massacre of the hundreds of peaceful Azerbaijani civilians<A HREF="footnote.htm#2" onmouseover="window.status='Footnote[2]';return true"> <B><SUP>[2]</B></SUP></A> on the night of February 25-26, 1992. <BR><P> We have compiled and presented in this page reports and documents about one of the most outrageous crimes of the 20th century. Please note that this is the first attempt to compile available reports and sources on this issue and we do not consider the current content (see the left frame) complete. More relevant materials will be added later once available. Please visit this site again for updates. <P><P><P> <CENTER><U><B><FONT SIZE=+2>Slaughter, not many know about</FONT></B></U></CENTER> <BR><P> Nine years have passed since then and still we have not heard the true and complete story of the Khojaly tragedy. It happened so that there was an airport in this town, and many of those who lived in Khojaly did not realize that this will cost them their lives and the lives of their loved ones. <BR><P> Yes, human race has changed and we used to refer to the society we lived in as "civilized". But is it? <BR><P> What happened in Khojaly screams "NO!" A human being still exterminates another for a piece of land under the sun and can do it in a most savage way using not only guns, but also his perverted intelligence. The executor chooses his victims and executes them in a cold blooded manner with a purpose: to terrify others still alive, make them run away. <BR><P> The victims were chosen, the executors were ready. The act started... <BR><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><I> "Around 200 bodies were brought into Agdam in the space of four days. Scores of the corpses bore traces of profanation. Doctors on a hospital train in Agdam noted no less than four corpses that had been scalped and one that had been beheaded. ... and one case of live scalping"</I>. ("A tragedy whose perpetrators cannot be vindicated. A report by Memorial, the Moscow-based human rights group, on the massive violations of human rights committed in the taking of Khojaly on the night of 25/26 February 1992 by armed units", newspaper Svoboda, 12 June 1992.)"<BR><P><I> "I had heard a lot about wars, about the cruelty of the Fascists, but the Armenians were worse, killing five- and six-year-old children, killing innocent civilians"</I>, said a French journalist, Jean-Yves Junet, who visited the scene of this mass murder of women, old people, children and defenders of Khojaly. (Khojaly - The Last Day, op. cit.)<BR> <A HREF="war11.jpg"> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="war11.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"></A></CENTER> <P><I> "Some children were found with severed ears; the skin had been cut from the left side of an elderly woman's face; and men had been scalped." </I> (In the words of the journalist Chingiz Mustafaev, Khojaly - The Last Day, Baku, Azerbaijan publishing house, 1992)<BR> <A HREF="war9.jpg"> <IMG ALIGN=LEFT SRC="war9.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"> </A> <A HREF="war12.jpg"><IMG ALIGN=RIGHT SRC="war12.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"></A><BR><BR><BR><BR><P> <A HREF="xocali.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Quotes from Western media';return true">More quotes</A> </BLOCKQUOTE> <BR><P> The mere brutality of the massacres in Khojaly was aimed at preparing the grounds for subsequent massive refugee flows, since no one amongst civilians from <A HREF="maps.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Azerbaijan Maps';return true">Agdam, Shusha, Kelbadjar and other districts of Azerbaijan (total of 7 occupied districts)</A> would have preferred to stay and witness another massacre by those, who chose to become executors by their own will. Khojaly was chosen as a stage for a slaughter at the very beginning of the large occupation campaign. Having created panic and fear the executors moved further: <BR><P><PRE> 28 February 1992 - Khojaly 8 May 1992 - Shusha 18 May 1992 - Lachin 3 April 1993 - Kelbajar 28 June 1993 - Agdere <A HREF="war2.jpg"><IMG ALIGN=RIGHT SRC="war2.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"></A> 23 July 1993 - Agdam 23 August 1993 - Fizuli 26 August 1993 - Djebrail 30 September 1993 - Kubatly 28 October 1993 - Zangelan and Goradiz </PRE> <BLOCKQUOTE><I> "A group of 19 members of the Nukhiyev family from the village of Gorazly in the Fizuli district of Azerbaijan was said to have been taken hostage by ethnic Armenian forces at around 5pm on 2 July 1993. They had gathered for a wedding. Seven members have been released in exchanges since then and one, Vagif Kutais ogly Nukhiyev, is said to have died five to six months ago. The remaining 11 family members - four women, two men and five children, all named above - are reported by their relatives to remain held as hostages on the premises of the hospital in Khankendi (known to the Armenians as Stepanakert). The five children still detained, all girls, are Sevda (born 1980), Leyla (born 1983), Matanat (born 1983), Arzu (born 1986) and Narmina (born 1989)." <A HREF="http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1994/EUR/551294.EUR.txt" onmouseover="window.status='Amnesty International document on Azerbaijani children';return true">From the Amnesty International archives</A> </I></BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="war28.jpg"><IMG ALIGN=RIGHT SRC="war28.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"></A> <BR><P> Their advocates were ready too, ready to justify the crime. "Fight for the freedom", they say, no, they shout! <BR><P> What a cynical notion for a mere act of slaughter! No prosecutions, no war criminals, only real politics and frantic propaganda in a cynical world. <BR><P> World? What about it? The world replied with the United Nations Security Council resolutions: <A HREF="gopher://gopher.undp.org:70/00/undocs/scd/scouncil/s93/23" onmouseover="window.status='UN SC resolution 822';return true">822</A>, <A HREF="gopher://gopher.undp.org:70/00/undocs/scd/scouncil/s93/54" onmouseover="window.status='UN SC resolution 853';return true">853</A>, <A HREF="gopher://gopher.undp.org:70/00/undocs/scd/scouncil/s93/75" onmouseover="window.status='UN SC resolution 874';return true">874</A> and <A HREF="gopher://gopher.undp.org:70/00/undocs/scd/scouncil/s93/884" onmouseover="window.status='UN SC resolution 884';return true">884</A>, which were nothing, but words. The last resolution from 12 November 1993 ended with "Decides to remain actively seized of the matter", but actually it did not. Territories are still occupied, hundreds of thousands are still living in tents in refugee camps <links> under unbearably terrible conditions which no human being would wish to have. <BR><P> How about the big brother? Yes, they were there, in Khojaly, 366th, notoriously known as the 666th, <A HREF="http://www-scf.usc.edu/~baguirov/azeri/xojali.html" onmouseover="window.status='Khojaly (Xocali) by Thomas Goltz';return true"> Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Russian Interior Ministry forces</A><A HREF="footnote.htm#3" onmouseover="window.status='Footnote #3';return true"><SUP><B>[3]</B></SUP></A>. <BR><P> What about the democratic of all? They too came forward, but with the <A HREF="http://scf.usc.edu/~baguirov/azeri/goltz1.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act by Thomas Goltz';return true"> Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act</A>, barring US humanitarian aid to the needy refugees, and <A HREF="http://scf.usc.edu/~baguirov/azeri/sec907.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Section 907 of the FSA';return true">penalizing victims for being victims</A>. <BR><P> Yes, six years have passed, but still <A HREF="http://azer.com/21.folder/21.refugeesvoices.html" onmouseover="window.status='Refugees by Azerbaijan International';return true">children</A> of Khojaly are dying, this time in the <A HREF="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/usazerb/refugees.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Information on the refugees from HRCA';return true">refugee camps</A>, not in a slaughter field. <BR><P> <A HREF="war10.jpg"><IMG ALIGN=RIGHT SRC="war10.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"></A> <A HREF="war17.jpg"><IMG ALIGN=LEFT SRC="war17.jpg" HEIGHT="70" WIDTH="100" ALT="War"></A> <BLOCKQUOTE><I> "Every year hundreds of elderly people, women and children die in refugee camps as a result of diseases and epidemics."</I> <a href="gopher://gopher.un.org/00/ga/docs/51/c3/C3-51-9.EN" onmouseover="window.status='UN GA document';return true">From the UN archives </A><BR><P> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR><P> Still no one has ever been prosecuted for the crimes committed in Khojaly. <BR><P> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=+1>* * *</FONT></CENTER> <BR><P> We are looking forward to a brighter centure, but is it really going to become one unless just and equitable evaluation is given to Khojaly? <BR><P> We call all for voicing against the criminals of the Khojaly tragedy, and in the name of God and justice, we demand fair and caring attitude to the victims of this crime. We believe justice will be served and the guilty will find punishment. <BR><P> May there always be peace, and may the word "slaughter" disappear from the history book of the humanity. <BR><P> <HR> <A HREF="mailto:azerbaijan@geocities.com">Send us your comments</A><BR> You are also welcome to suggest us any other material or relevant references, currently not included on this web site. <BR> <HR><BR><P> <a href=http://www.Lpage.com/wgb/wgbsign.dbm?owner=khojaly>Sign Khojaly Guestbook</a><BR> <a href=http://www.Lpage.com/wgb/wgbview.dbm?owner=khojaly>View Khojaly Guestbook</a> <BR><P> Copyright (c) 1997-2001. All Rights Reserved.<BR> <P>