Baku State University (BSU) has hosted an international scientific conference dedicated to the 31st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

The participants first commemorated the victims of the Khojaly genocide and martyrs with a minute of silence.

Speaking at the conference, BSU rector Elchin Babayev said that The Khojaly genocide is one of the most terrible and tragic pages of Azerbaijan history. Azerbaijan has endured ethnic cleansing and genocide by Armenian nationalist-chauvinists for 200 years.

‘Armenian military forces committed genocides in the town of Khojaly with the population of seven thousand people on February 26 1992. There were three thousand people in the town at the time of Armenian military forces’ attack. 613 people were killed, 1000 peaceful people of different age became invalid during Khojaly genocide. 106 women, 63 children, 70 old men were killed. 8 families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parents, while 25 both of them. 1275 peaceful residents were taken hostages the fate of 150 of them is still unknown’, said Elchin Babayev.

He noted that a resolution, “On 26 February- the Day of the Khojaly genocide,” was issued with the initiative of the national leader Heydar Aliyev at the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The document describes the causes of the tragedy and its perpetrators. Since February 2008, the "Justice for Khojaly" campaign has been held on the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Heydar Foundation. The aim of the campaign is to inform the international community about the Khojaly tragedy, to give a moral and political assessment of the tragedy in the international arena, and to ensure its commemoration at the international level.

MP Arzu Nagiyev, rector of the Tashkent Institute of Culture and Arts Eldor Shermanov, former military attache of Turkey in our country Yucel Karauz, coordinator of the Public Association "Propaganda of the realities of genocide" Murvat Mammadov, Professor of the Satbayev University Rinat Iskakov (online), professor of the National Aviation University of Ukraine (online) Arif Guliyev, Head of the Department of History of Azerbaijan (for humanitarian faculties) Azad Rzayev also made speech at the event.