Victims massacred in 1992 by Armenian forces in Azerbaijani town Khojaly remembered in Ankara

By Gokhan Celiker

Victims of the Khojaly massacre, the mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces in the town of Khojaly in the country’s Karabakh region on Feb. 26, 1992, were commemorated at a ceremony held at the Khojaly Memorial Museum on Monday in Türkiye's capital Ankara.

Speaking at the ceremony, Azerbaijani Ambassador Resad Memmedov said the largest Khojaly memorial in Türkiye is in Ankara, emphasizing that annual commemorations are held there.

Organized in collaboration with the Azerbaijani Embassy in Ankara and Ankara’s Kizilcahamam district, the ceremony for the 32nd anniversary of the Khojaly massacre was attended by the ambassador, and the mayor of Kizilcahamam, Suleyman Acar, the local district governor, political party representatives, military officials, and numerous members of the public.

Stressing that those who perished in Khojaly were killed because they were "Turks," Memmedov highlighted the presence of many children, elderly, and women among the victims.

Lamenting the impunity of many perpetrators of the crime, Mehmedov said: "Unfortunately, the whole world turned a blind eye to the Khojaly genocide."

He underscored Türkiye's commitment to ensuring that the events in Khojaly are not forgotten and emphasized their call for justice from the world.

Acar emphasized that the events of Khojaly will never be forgotten and that the pain of the incident is still deeply felt.

Describing Khojaly as "one of the most bitter memories in Turkish history," Acar stressed the significant sensitivity on Khojaly in Türkiye and Azerbaijan.

Victims of the Khojaly massacre were also commemorated in Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital Sarajevo.

The ceremony took place at the Azerbaijan Friendship Park in Dobrinja, Sarajevo and was attended by Azerbaijan's Ambassador to Sarajevo Vilayat Guliyev and Türkiye's Ambassador to Sarajevo Sadik Babur Girgin.

The Karabakh region had been the site of mass killings and burials since the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s, during which the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh — a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan — and seven adjacent regions, including Khojaly.

The town was the site of a two-hour Armenian offensive that killed 613 Azerbaijani civilians — including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people — and seriously injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.

Some 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during the massacre remain missing, while eight families were completely wiped out.

The Karabakh region was just restored to full Azerbaijani sovereignty last fall.