[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 30 (Thursday, February 25, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE 24TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KHOJALY MASSACRE

                                  _____
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 25, 2016

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 24th anniversary of 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. However, 
on February 26, 1992, Armenian armed forces descended on the town in a 
final attempt to take over the city. In doing so, they massacred over 
600 unarmed people--including 106 women and 83 children--and left less 
than 2,000 survivors. Hundreds more became disabled due to their 
horrific injuries. More than one hundred children lost a parent and 25 
children lost both parents. At least 8 families were completely 
obliterated.
  Even though a ceasefire went into effect over two decades ago, more 
than 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh 
and seven surrounding districts, remain occupied and more than 1 
million Azerbaijanis remain refugees unable to return to their home 
villages. 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 toward 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 cooperation has included: 
enforcing sanctions against Iran; providing troops to serve 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 
through Azerbaijan to Afghanistan; construction of the Southern Gas 
Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Italy, thereby providing Europe with 
an alternative to Russian energy sources; and supplying 40 percent of 
Israel's oil.
  I invite my colleagues to join me and our Azerbaijani friends in 
recognizing and remembering the horrible events that occurred during 
the Khojaly Massacre twenty-four years ago. As Azerbaijanis in all 
parts of the world continue to grieve the loss of loved ones, let us 
commemorate their losses with support of non-violent efforts to resolve 
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and of reforms that promote peace and 
stability throughout the Southern Caucasus region.

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