[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE 23RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE KHOJALY MASSACRE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 2015

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 23rd anniversary of a 
terrible event in the history of Azerbaijan: the massacre of hundreds 
of people in the town of Khojaly in what was the largest killing of 
ethnic Azerbaijani civilians in the course of the Armenia-Azerbaijan 
conflict. Khojaly, which is located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of 
Azerbaijan, was once home to 7,000 people. That was before Armenian 
armed forces descended on the town on February 26, 1992, killing over 
600 people--including 106 women and 83 children. Hundreds more became 
disabled due to their injuries. More than one hundred children lost one 
of their parents, and 25 children lost both parents. At least 8 
families were completely wiped out.
   More than two decades after a ceasefire went into effect, more than 
20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and 
seven surrounding districts, remains occupied and more than 1 million 
Azerbaijanis remain displaced from their homes. Ongoing violence along 
the line of contact surrounding occupied Azerbaijani territory 
reinforces the urgency of robust American participation in the 
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk 
Group as it works towards a peaceful resolution of the Azerbaijan-
Armenia conflict.
   Azerbaijan is the only country that borders both Russia and Iran, 
and yet Azerbaijan has been a strong partner of the United States and 
its allies in security and energy matters. This has included: enforcing 
sanctions against Iran; providing troops that served shoulder-to-
shoulder with U.S. forces in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan; allowing 
transit for 40 percent of all non-lethal equipment used by NATO forces 
in Afghanistan; construction of the Southern Gas Corridor from the 
Caspian Sea to Italy that will provide Europe with an alternative 
source to Russian energy; and supplying 40 percent of Israel's oil.
   I ask my colleagues to join me and our Azerbaijani friends in 
commemorating the devastation of Khojaly twenty-three years ago. As 
Azerbaijanis around the world recall this massacre and mourn the loss 
of loved ones, let us remember our support of peaceful efforts to 
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and reforms that promote 
stability throughout the Southern Caucasus region.

                          ____________________