26.02.2021

On February 26, the Constitutional Court held an event dedicated to the 29^th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

Before the event, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, a limited number of employees of the Court, headed by the Chairman of Constitutional Court, Farhad Abdullaev, visited the monument "Mother’s Cry" reared in the Khatai district of Baku city in memory of the Shehids of Khojaly, honoring the memory of the victims of the tragedy.

Then a commemorative event was held in the Constitutional Court building.

At first, the memory of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy was honored with a minute of silence.

Opening the event, Chairman of the Constitutional Court Farhad Abdullayev, spoke about the bloody page of the history of our people - the Khojaly genocide, as well as other heinous crimes of Armenians against our people. He noted that the Khojaly tragedy is the continuation policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide carried out by the Armenian chauvinist nationalists against Azerbaijanis for nearly two hundred years. The Khojaly genocide committed against the Azerbaijani people as a whole is one of the acts of terrible atrocity in the history of mankind. This genocide is also a crime against humanity.

It was noted that on the night of 25-26 February 1992, the armed forces of Armenia, with the participation of personnel and equipment of the 366^th motorized rifle regiment of the former USSR located in Khankendi, violated all norms of international humanitarian law, and as a result of heinous criminal acts against the civilian population encircled in the city of Khojaly, 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 63 children, 70 old people, 1275 civilians were captured, 150 - went missing.

Chairman emphasized that the political and legal assessment of Khojaly genocide, one of the bloodiest pages in the history of the Azerbaijani people was given only after the return of the national leader Heydar Aliyev to power and only by initiative of great leader on February 24, 1994 the Parliament adopted resolution ”On the day of Khojaly Genocide”.

It was mentioned that President Ilham Aliyev has always been in the focus of bringing the massacre to the international community and recognizing it by the world, perpetuating the memory of the victims of the tragedy, and enhancing the social protection of their families and relatives.

Chairman also specified the important projects implemented within the framework of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to promote the Khojaly genocide. The invaluable contributions made by the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, in this area were especially highlighted. He noted that a number of countries of the world, some international organizations have decided to recognize the Khojaly massacre as genocide. Many years of successful work in this area shows that the international community is informed about the Khojaly genocide. As part of the international campaign “Justice for Khojaly” initiated by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva played an important role in promoting the truth about the Khojaly genocide by the world states and the international community.

It was brought to the attention that the large-scale military provocations against our country initiated by the armed forces of Armenia, which for many years occupied the lands of Azerbaijan, in 2020 led to decisive actions of our state and people in the name of saving the Motherland, and a new decisive stage of the Karabakh war began.

As a result of the 44-day Patriotic War launched by the Azerbaijani Army under the leadership of the President of Azerbaijan, the victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev on September 27 last year, in response to the next military provocation of Armenia, the territorial integrity of our country was restored, our lands were liberated from occupation.

It was emphasized that the conduct of army construction at a high level, the development of the military sphere, improving the professionalism of military personnel, providing the army with modern equipment is the result of the successful domestic and foreign policy of President Ilham Aliyev. In Azerbaijan, the state always pays great attention and cares for military personnel, veterans, and Shekhid families.

The military successes of the Azerbaijani army determined the results of the war, the Patriotic War ended with the complete victory of Azerbaijan. On November 10, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev signed a historic statement confirming the Victory.

The Chairman noted that 2020 will remain in the memory of our people thanks to the Great Victory of our Valiant Army under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, will always occupy a special place in the history of our state. In 2020, the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, authored by the great leader Heydar Aliyev, was 25 years old, and its legal force has been restored on our lands liberated from occupation.

Drawing attention to the principle "Every crime must be punished," Farhad Abdullayev stressed the importance of the deserved punishment of the persons of this bloody crime. Speaking about the tasks facing Azerbaijani legal scholars in this area, the Chairman noted that each of us should increase efforts to bring to the international public the truth about the Khojaly genocide, deserved punishment of criminals.