The scars of the Khojaly Massacre, in which 613 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed on Feb. 26, 1992, by Armenian soldiers in the town of Khojaly during the first Karabakh war, are still fresh after 30 years, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
"We know that the scars of this atrocity that took place 30 years ago before the eyes of the world are still fresh. We feel the grief of brotherly Azerbaijan as our own grief and share it deeply in our hearts," the ministry said in a written statement.
It reiterated that "more than a thousand people were taken captive during the attacks by the Armenian forces. The fate of the missing remains unknown to this day."
"We wish Allah’s mercy upon our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters who lost their lives in the Khojaly Massacre. We once again extend our most sincere condolences to the brotherly people of Azerbaijan and remember with respect the dear memory of those who have lost their lives," the ministry added.
The two-hour Armenian offensive took place on Feb. 26, 1992, just after the Soviet Union was dissolved.
Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly after battering it with heavy artillery, tanks and infantry forces.
They killed 613 Azerbaijani citizens, 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 captured by the Armenians remain missing. In the massacre, eight families were completely wiped out, while 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both parents.
While the horrors of the Khojaly Massacre continue to haunt the Azerbaijani community, Armenian authorities are far from acknowledging responsibility despite all the evidence of the incident. On the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, Azerbaijani officials and survivors of the attack reiterated their call for justice and for those responsible to be punished.
