[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 27 (Friday, February 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF THE KHOJALY TRAGEDY

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                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 18, 2011

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to 
recognize the estimated 1,000 civilians who on February 26, 1992 were 
indiscriminately scalped, tortured, and killed in the town of Khojaly, 
an Azerbaijani-populated town in Nagorno-Karabakh. Many of us know that 
post-Soviet conflicts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia led to brutal 
ethnic cleansing, but few have heard of the people of Khojaly, who were 
massacred by Armenian militants. The ethnic cleansing was successful, 
and the town no longer exists. Although the tragedy received widespread 
media coverage, since then it has largely been forgotten. I hope that 
now and every year after this atrocity, we can pray for the victims.
  Azerbaijan's Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities come together 
against ethnic cleansing at this time of the year, commemorating the 
lives of the Khojaly victims and calling on the international community 
to condemn the bloodshed. Their pleas do not fall on deaf ears.
  There are still victims of the conflict in the region of Nagorno-
Karabakh. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced, and ethnic 
cleansing has continued even after 1992.
  I have met victims of the Rwandan genocide, who are still healing to 
this day. I went to Bosnia shortly after the war and saw the effect of 
ethnic cleansing there. I know what a detrimental effect this can have 
to a region, in this case even wiping a small town off the map. I 
recognize that even now, atrocities are occurring in Kashmir and 
Darfur, and innocent civilians are paying the price while we in the 
international community have more to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that Azerbaijan and Armenia can come to a 
peaceful resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and I hope 
that the civilians suffering right now will soon see an end to ethnic 
cleansing. The memories of the women, men, and children of Khojaly 
should propel us to condemn such practices.

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