Oksana Altunyan, an Armenian woman who has joined the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform and is in Azerbaijan for the first time in the past 30 years, has visited the graves of the Azerbaijani toddler and her grandmother, both of whom were killed in an Armenian shelling of Fuzuli’s Alkhanli village, the Peace Platform’s press service told APA.
On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district. As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, was injured.
Oksana offered her condolences to the families of the victims and condemned the aggression against the civilians.
She was born in Baku and lived in the Azerbaijani capital until 1987 but moved to Moscow afterwards. She could not return to her homeland because of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
On the first day of her visit to Azerbaijan, Oksana has also visited the graves of Heydar Aliyev, Muslum Magomayev, and Rashid Behbudov in the Alley of Honor.
Oksana called on intellectuals from both sides to unite their efforts to restore peace and good neighborly relations.
Oksana Altunyan then paid a visit to Baku’s Armenian Church, where she was shown copies of exceptional books, manuscripts, and unique examples of Armenian literature. The Armenian woman thanked the library for the preservation of rare Armenian books and manuscripts.
She could not hide her amazement at how beautiful Baku has become since 30 years ago, noting that she was very happy to finally be in the city she had been unable to tread for decades.