Russia must recognize the genocide in Khojaly - Russian deputies

Baku / 26.02.19 / Turan: Russia must recognize the genocide of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly. Representatives of the Russian State Duma expressed a similar opinion today at a press conference in Baku.

Dmitry Savelyev, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Security Committee, believes that it is necessary to step up work on the recognition in Russia of the events in Khojaly as a genocide of the Azerbaijani people.

"The tragedy in Khojaly is without a doubt a monstrous atrocity. Killed women, children, old people. Children died, and that means their children, and the children of their children. This means that a part of the future of Azerbaijan has been destroyed," said Saveliev.

"We need to actively work on this in Russia in order to recognize this monstrous massacre as a genocide of the Azerbaijani people. When you look at the pictures, involuntarily tears come to your eyes. We all take it as a personal tragedy. It is necessary for everyone to work in order to recognize this atrocity as a genocide of the Azerbaijani people," said Saveliev.

"Mass killings of civilians are a crime against humanity. They do not have a statute of limitations, and those responsible for their commission must be put on the international wanted list and incur deserved punishment," said Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the magazine National Defense. "The murder in Khojaly is the murder of those who tried to leave the besieged city. All signs of genocide are here," he added.

"Incredible pain, incredible tragedy, incomparable with anything," said Oksana Pushkina, deputy chairperson of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, said the events in Khojaly.

The deputy chairman of the State Duma"s international affairs committee, Irina Rodnina, said that most Russians do not know about the Khojaly massacre.

"99% of Russians do not know anything about the Khojaly tragedy. It is necessary to make films, release books about Khojaly," Rodnina said. She herself learned about this tragedy only about one and a half years ago. "Yes, it is a pain. Armenians attacked, and there were many problems. Each country has its own tragedies after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and this should not be forgotten," she said.

Sergei Markov, director of the Institute for Political Studies, touched upon the issue of responsibility for these crimes.

"Why is there still no assessment of the Khojaly tragedy in Russia? Some public figures defending the interests of Armenians are in favor of recognizing the Sumgayit events as genocide. Others are for recognizing the genocide of the Khojaly tragedy," said Markov. -02D-