The Milli Majlis Working Group for interparliamentary relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina had an online meeting with a group of parliamentarians and public as well as political actors of this Balkan country. Held on 24 February, the meeting was dedicated to the 29^th anniversary of the genocide in Khojali.

Leader of the Azerbaijani Parliament’s Working Group Mazahir Efendiyev welcomed the meeting’s participants and told them in detail about the Khojali Genocide, describing as a crime against humanity the massacre of the Azerbaijani townsfolk of Khojali in 1992 by Armenia, then firmly on a course for occupation against Azerbaijan from day one of the Azerbaijani independence.

Relaying to the whole world the truth of Khojali, disseminating it internationally and achieving an objective assessment of the genocide – these are the goals that are amongst the foreign political priorities of Azerbaijan, according to Mr Efendiyev who said that the comprehensive political and diplomatic endeavours of President Ilham Aliyev had made certain that several international organisations and national parliaments had already passed the documents that classify this tragedy as no other than genocide. Remarkable are the relevant achievements made thanks to the projects undertaken by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and, especially, the ‘Justice for Khojali!’ international campaign initiated by the Foundation Vice President Leyla Aliyeva.

There is a memorial complex in Sarajevo erected to the victims of the genocides in the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the town of Khojali in Azerbaijan. At the same time, the resolution of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Parliament on the recognition of, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan Republic is not only a contribution to maintaining justice, peace and security internationally but also a token of regard for the Azerbaijani people and state.

Having said that, Mr Efendiyev thanked the politician Mehmed Bradaric, a Bosnian and Herzegovinian MP during 2010-2014, for his backing to the 2013 resolution in defence of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and national territory.

The Azerbaijani MP and a member of the Milli Majlis group of friendship with Bosnia and Herzegovina Javid Osmanov who spoke next called the Khojali Genocide the grimmest of all the criminal and genocidal Armenian acts ever committed against the Azerbaijanis. He pointed out that the Armenians treated not only the people but also the villages, towns and both historical and cultural heritage with the equal brutality in the then-captured provinces of Azerbaijan. However, the triumphant Azerbaijani Army led by Commander-in-Chief and President Ilham Aliyev did the proper justice upon the occupiers in the 44-day Patriotic War, Mr Osmanov added.

Talking of the already-mentioned resolution of the Parliament of his country during the conversation, Mr Bradaric put the focus on how important it is to unite parliaments’ forces to avoid repetition of such lamentable events and what immense importance parliamentary diplomacy happens to have.

Nermin Mandra, a member of the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the other participating Bosnian public activists and politicians apprised the tragedies of both Khojali and Srebrenica as attempts upon the humankind and humanity.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis