Cuban Prensa Latina News Agency highlights Khojaly genocide

Cuba’s influential Prensa Latina News Agency has published an article by Azerbaijani Ambassador to the country Ruslan Rzayev headlined “Khojaly, a crime against humanity” highlighting the genocide committed against the Azerbaijani people in the town of Khojaly, Azernews reports.

The article mentioned that this year marks the 32nd anniversary of the Khojaly massacre, providing an insight into the course of the massacre, saying that the ruthless slaughter perpetrated on the night of February 25 to 26, 1992, resulting in the deaths of 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly.

The article described the massive genocide and ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis, who have lived in their ancestral lands, as a fundamental violation of rights of not only Khojaly residents, but the entire population of Karabakh.

It also featured an excerpt from an interview of former Armenian President Serj Sargsyan with British journalist Thomas de Waal. The article quoted the former Armenian president as saying: “Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us. They thought that the Armenians were people, who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that stereotype.”

The article mentioned the facts of gross violations of human and international humanitarian rights by Armenia, including war crimes and crimes committed against humanity during the Khojaly massacre.

The report further noted that a number of international organizations, including the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as well as a host of Latin American countries had recognized the Khojaly genocide.