[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 25 (Thursday, February 25, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       COMMEMORATING THE 16TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KHOJALY TRAGEDY

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                        HON. MICHAEL E. McMAHON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 25, 2010

  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 16th 
anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy, when on February 25-26, 1992, the 
town of Khojaly in the Nagorno Karabagh region of Azerbaijan was 
brutally attacked by Armenian forces. The town of Khojaly, which was 
home to 7,000 people, was completely destroyed; a total of 613 people 
were killed, of which 106 were women and 83 were children, and 56 of 
whom are purported to have been killed with extreme cruelty and 
torture. Additionally, 1,275 were taken hostage, 150 went missing; 487 
people became disabled, 76 of whom are teenagers; 8 families were wiped 
out; 25 children lost both of their parents, and 130 children lost one 
of their parents.
  Sadly, Khojaly, a town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, 
now under the occupation of Armenian forces, was the site of the 
largest killing of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians.
  According to Human Rights Watch and other international observers, 
the massacre was committed by the ethnic Armenian armed forces, 
reportedly with the help of the Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment.
  As part of the population tried to escape the town of Khojaly, they 
encountered violent ambushes and were murdered. According to the 
Russian organization, Memorial, 200 Azerbaijani corpses were brought 
from Khojaly to Agdam within four days, and it was discovered that they 
were subjected to abuses, torture and mutilation. Human Rights Watch 
stated that ``we place direct responsibility for the civilian deaths 
with Karabakh Armenian forces.''
  At the time, Newsweek Magazine reported: ``Azerbaijan was a charnel 
house again last week: a place of mourning refugees and dozens of 
mangled corpses dragged to a makeshift morgue behind the mosque. They 
were ordinary Azerbaijani men, women and children of Khojaly, a small 
village in war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh overrun by Armenian forces on 25-
26 February. Many were killed at close range while trying to flee; some 
had their faces mutilated, others were scalped.''
  Time Magazine stated ``While the details are argued, this much is 
plain: something grim and unconscionable happened in the Azerbaijani 
town of Khojaly 2 weeks ago. So far, some 200 dead Azerbaijanis, many 
of them mutilated, have been transported out of the town tucked inside 
the Armenian-dominated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh for burial in 
neighboring Azerbaijan. The total number of deaths--the Azerbaijanis 
claim 1,324 civilians have been slaughtered, most of them women and 
children--is unknown.''
  Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, 
from Albania, Azerbaijan, and the United Kingdom stated in May 2001 in 
Written Declaration No. 324 that the ``Armenians massacred the whole 
population of Khojaly and fully destroyed the town.''
  Khojaly was the first significant Azerbaijani settlement overrun by 
Armenian forces in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The forces next 
overran the Nagorno-Karabakh districts of Zangilan, Gubadli, Fuzuli, 
Aghdam, and Kalbajar, as well as the towns of Shusha and Lachin. 
Altogether, the occupied territories represent roughly 20 percent of 
the territory of Azerbaijan. And, altogether roughly one million 
Azerbaijanis were evicted from their homes over the course of the 
Armenian-Azerbaijan war.
  Madam Speaker, this is not the ringing condemnation that the 
survivors of Khojaly deserve but it is an important first step by an 
international community that has too long been silent on this issue. 
Congress should take the next step and I hope my colleagues will join 
me in standing with Azerbaijanis as they commemorate the tragedy of 
Khojaly. The world should know and remember.

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