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EU Ambassador to Azerbaijan Peter Michalko expresses condolences over the Khojaly genocide, Azernews reports, citing the post shared by the EU Representation in Azerbaijan on its official Facebook account.
"Commemorating the victims of the Khojaly tragedy 32 years ago, EU Ambassador to Azerbaijan Peter Michalko stated: “We mourn the victims of the horrible tragedy in Khojaly: women, men, children, elderly, and we keep memory of all of them. I express my deep condolences to all those who lost their families, friends, and homes in Khojaly. We all need to continue to work together and do everything for reconciliation and long-lasting peace in order to ensure that such tragedies never happen again", Michalko said.
On the night of February 25-26, 1992, Khojaly was occupied by Armenia’s armed forces with the assistance of the former USSR’s 366th Motorised Rifle Regiment following massive artillery shelling.
As a result of the occupation, 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elderly citizens, were brutally murdered, eight families were completely wiped out, 130 children lost one of their parents, and 25 children lost both of their parents. The fate of 150 people, including 68 women and 26 children out of 1275 people, who were taken prisoner and hostage as well as cruelly tortured, is still unknown.