Khojaly Massacre in spotlight of The Washington Times

The Washington Times has published an article entitled “Khojaly Massacre still haunts Azerbaijan”. The author says during the 1988-1994 war in Nagorno-Karabakh area of Azerbaijan, Armenian and former USSR troops slaughtered hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani men, women and children in the town of Khojaly.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, its exact date in February commemorated with public tributes and marches in which the country`s powerful elite stand side-by-side with the opposition.

The story of the massacre is taught to schoolchildren the way that tales of the American Revolution are taught to American students.

“I don`t think there has been a day in the last 20 years when I have failed to recall the butchered and tortured corpses left behind in Khojaly,” says 50-year-old Aloysat Gasimov, who was one of the first Azeri officials to arrive in the area after the Armenian and USSR soldiers withdrew.

The rugged face of Mr. Gasimov, the head of a cultural center near the site of the 1992 massacre, is familiar to most Azerbaijanis because he appears in many of the first photos documenting the tragedy.

The articles says Armenian troops gunned down hundreds of civilians over two days as they tried to evacuate Khojaly during the height of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “For me, it is like a nightmare that has lasted 20 years,” Mr. Gasimov says. “The pain has never completely left me.”

Figura Rustamova, a 42-year-old school director, gesturing around her small, plywood-framed home where the centerpiece is a large photograph of her older brother, who was killed in Khojaly while trying to help older residents escape. “I want to go back to Khojaly. When I die, I want to be buried next to my brother and my parents.”

“It will be worth it if we can return to our land,” says Akbar Hasanov, another resident.
For its part, the government says it is working on the issue, and not without success.

Azerbaijan is home to one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Its GDP has tripled in the last eight years, and it`s public debt is barely 6 percent of GDP. In per capita terms, it is the richest country in the region.

“For me, the top priority must be recovering our homeland,” says Rafael Ismailov, a retired truck driver injured during the attack 20 years ago. Due to shrapnel he took in his ankle during the onslaught and infections that followed, one of Mr. Ismailov`s feet has withered into a twisted stump that requires him to hop on his good leg to get around his small home.
“I am against war, but if it takes force to get our land back and they can find a truck I can drive with my ruined foot, then they can strap me in and I will help lead the charge.”



/AzerTAc/