Another congressman calls to recognize Khojaly rtagedy

Congressman Ed Pastor of Arizona called on February 27 in House of Representatives to recognize Khojaly tragedy.

"I rise today to remember the 21st Anniversary of the Khojaly Tragedy, which occurred in this small town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on February 25-26, 1992. In the early 1990s, Azerbaijan was involved in a brutal conflict with its neighbor to the West, Armenia , and the repercussions from atrocities committed during that time still impact diplomatic and economic relations today. The Khojaly Tragedy is perhaps the worst single incident that occurred during this time, resulting in hundreds of lives lost, families devastated, and the town destroyed.

  Since a cease-fire was negotiated in 1994, these two nations have been locked in a dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, located within Azerbaijan but occupied by Armenian forces. The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which the United States is a co-chair, was created to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to this conflict, yet work remains in reaching this goal.

A peaceful resolution of this conflict would benefit not only Azerbaijan and Armenia , but would ensure security and economic growth for the South Caucasus region. -0-