Khojaly massacre commemoration

A number of parliament resolutions have been adopted and congressional remarks have been made, commemorating the anniversaries of the Khojaly massacre. Since 2005 commemoration events were organized in Washington, D.C., New York, Tallinn, Warsaw, London, Beijing, Hague, Dubai, Kiev, Moscow, Berlin, Strasbourg, Brussels, Bucharest, Geneve, Ankara, Istambul, Prague, Paris, Rome, Tbilisi, Saraevo and other cities.
The following list shows the major resolutions and remarks around the world dedicated to the Khojaly massacre.
International organizations
* Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The second largest organization after United Nations called Khojaly events "crime against humanity" with consensus of all members and recognized it as genocide;
* Memorial. Moscow-based human rights group stated in their report that the mass killing of civilians in Khojaly could not be justified under any circumstances and that actions of Armenian militants were in gross violation of a number of basic international human rights conventions.
* Human Rights Watch. The Khojaly Massacre was described by HRW as "the largest massacre to date in the conflict" over Nagorno-Karabakh. Organization regarded the actions of Armenian forces as a violation of the customary law on the treatment of civilians in war zones.
Countries
Netherlands
According to an Azerbaijani news agency in 2011, over a million signatures were gathered in the Netherlands and sent to that county’s parliament to support recognition of Khojaly.
Pakistan
Pakistan recognized Khojaly events as genocide.
Colombia
The Colombian Senate recognized the killings of Azerbaijani civilians in the village of Khojaly in 1992 as genocide, becoming the second country in Latin America after Mexico to do so.
United States of America
On 25 February 2010, the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Robert A. DeLeo signed a citation, proposed by the state representative Ellen Story, offering "sincerest acknowledgment of the 18th commemoration of the Khojaly massacre".
On 25 February 2011, New Jersey became the first state in the U.S. that recognized the Khojaly massacre on both legislative and executive levels.
On 3 March 2011, the U.S State of Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution 535 recognizing and commemorating victims of the Khojaly massacre.
On 24 February 2012, the U.S. State of Georgia General Assembly adopted a full House Resolution 1594 commemorating victims of the Khojaly massacre. The resolution co-sponsored by four Georgia state legislators stated that Armenia continues to formally deny any responsibility for the tragedy while President Serzh Sargsyan depicted the massacre as an act of revenge to "break stereotypes".
On 23 March 2012, U.S State of Maine Senate adopted resolution HLS 1048 commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre.
On 28 January 2013, the U.S State of New Mexico Senate adopted resolution SM 19 commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly massacre.
On 8 February 2013, the U.S State of Arkansas House of Representatives adopted resolution HR 1004 commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre.
On 4 March 2013, the U.S State of Oklahoma Senate adopted resolution SR 3 commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly Tragedy, perpetrated by Armenian armed forces.
On 19 March 2013, the U.S State of Tennessee House of Representatives adopted resolution HR 48 commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre.
On 3 April 2013, the U.S. State of West Virginia House of Delegates adopted resolution 104 commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre.
On 3 April 2013, the U.S. State of Connecticut General Assembly adopted resolution commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre.
On 21 August 2013, the U.S. State of Florida House of Representatives adopted resolution commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre.
Hungary
Hungarian Parliament discussed mass killings by Armenians against Azerbaijanis which condemned Khojaly Genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Remembrance
A Written Declaration (No. 324), authored by Azerbaijan Popular Front member Gulamhuseyn Aliyev in 2001, was signed by 30 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, including members from Turkey (12), Azerbaijan (8), United Kingdom (3), Albania (2), Luxembourg (1), Republic of Macedonia (1), Poland (1), Bulgaria (1) and Norway (1), condemning the massacre of the entire population of Khojaly and destruction of the city by Armenians and recognizing genocide against Azerbaijanis. The written declaration, which commits only the members who have signed it, has been declined by the Council of Europe.
On 26 February 2009, in congressional remarks, Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-KY), solemnly recognized the 17th anniversary of the massacre at Khojaly, and honored the lives of those lost in this great tragedy. On 25 February 2010, in congressional remarks, Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA), co-chairman of the House Azerbaijani Caucus, called Khojaly a site of largest killing of Azerbaijani civilians.
In January 2010, the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC), composed of parliaments of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) members states, which includes Azerbaijan but not Armenia, recognised the Justice for Khojaly awareness campaign initiated on 8 May 2008 by Leyla Aliyeva, daughter of the President of Azerbaijan and General Coordinator of Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue (ICYF-DC), describing the 1992 event as a "mass massacre by Armenian forces of Azerbaijani civilians in the town of Khojaly", and called upon "all member parliaments to give proper recognition to this crime against humanity and support the Campaign on national and international levels. In response, the Armenian foreign minister Eduard Nalbandyan said that OIC member-states would not recognize the Khojaly massacre as a "genocide", and noted that no international or regional organization have made statements that were inconsistent with the Armenian approach to the Karabakh conflict.
In February 2010, Azerbaijani media reported a claim by the Azeri-Czech Society that representatives of the Azeri administration of Khojaly in exile and the Czech town of Lidice were to sign an agreement making Khojaly and Lidice sister cities and that a street in Lidice was to be named "Khojaly". Responding to the request of the Czech magazine Orer, the mayor of Lidice Veronika Kellerová clarified in March 2012 that the town of Khojaly signed a cooperation treaty with the Lidice Memorial affiliated with the Czech Ministry of Culture rather than with the municipality and there was no street named after Khojaly in Lidice.
In the same month five members of the US House of Representatives, , , , and , have issued Congressional statements remembering the victims of Khojaly massacre and condemning the crime.
During 20th anniversary of the event, 50,000 Azerbaijanis marched through Baku to commemorate the victims of this tragedy. 2012 Istanbul rally to commemorate the Khojaly massacre gathered 150,000 to 300,000 people with slogans "We are all Khojalians, we are all Karabakhians!" in Istanbul's Taksim Square. The protest reportedly had an ultranationalist undertone, with protesters carrying racist banners. The head of Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, Ayhan Sefer Üstün, called on the country’s prosecutors to take action against protesters who held up racist and discriminatory signs at the rally.
During the 21st anniversary of the massacre, a petition about commemorating and recognizing the Khojaly Massacre and its victims went viral, gathering 125,000 votes in less than 30 days, making this petition the second biggest White House petition of all time. In an official White House Response to the petition it was declared that the White House will not be issuing a Presidential Proclamation and that there can not be a military solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
A national public awareness campaign were launched in New York City and Washington D.C to raise awareness about this event.
Song
Hip hop-style song “Justice for Khojaly” has been produced in the framework of the “Justice for Khojaly” campaign. Performed by Ms. Toni Blackman, the first Hip Hop Cultural Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, and produced by Mr. Gordon Williams, multiple Grammy award winning producer and director took part in the event and shared with their thought on Khojaly Massacre and produced song. The song Justice for Khojaly calls on to pay tribute to the memory of the fallen innocent people and to prevent current and future generations from occurrence of such heinous crimes against humanity.

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