On February 26, 1992, Armenian soldiers entered the Azerbaijani city of Khojaly and brutally murdered the civilians. In this genocide attempt, a total of 613 Azerbaijani citizens were killed, 106 of whom were women, 70 were elderly and 63 were children, and a total of 1000 civilians were left disabled. Besides, eight families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost their one of their parents, 25 lost both parents, and the fate of 150 people is still unknown.
Twenty-six years have passed since the Khojaly genocide, which is one of the most terrible and tragic events in Azerbaijani history. In the first hours of February 26, Armenian soldiers brutally murdered civilians. Those who tried to escape were killed with pre-established traps. When the bodies were examined, it was understood that people were killed by weapons, shrapnel pieces or various blunt tools, and some of them were burnt alive or scalped. Along with the terrible memories told by the survivors of the massacre, all this tragedy was written in history with bloody letters.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey made the following statement on the 26th anniversary of the massacre: “Today, twenty percent of Azerbaijani territories are still under occupation of Armenia. More than one million Azerbaijanis became displaced from their homes in their motherland, becoming internal refugees. Turkey commiserates deeply with her Azerbaijani brothers and sisters over this brutal attack and massacre which they suffered 26 years ago and shares their pain. We strongly condemn this massacre and the continuous occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia. We wish God’s mercy upon those who lost their lives in this massacre and wish once again our most sincere condolences to our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters.”
