BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 5

Trend:

Democrat Steve Cohen, co-chairman of the working group on Azerbaijan in the US Congress, representing Tennessee in the House of Representatives, made a statement on the 29th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy, Trend reports on Mar.5 referring to the Azerbaijani Embassy in the country.

According to the statement, the murder of hundreds of residents of the city of Khojaly during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was the largest act of massacre against ethnic Azerbaijanis.

Stressing that 7,000 residents lived in Khojaly town, located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, before the massacre of people by Armenian forces, the member of the US Congress noted that more than 600 civilians, including 106 women and 83 children, were killed, more than 100 children lost one of their parents, 25 children lost both parents, and 8 families were exterminated.

“Despite the 1994 ceasefire, the conflict wasn’t resolved. Hopefully, the parties will be able to achieve peace after the 2020 war,” said the statement, emphasizing that long-term peace, security and regional cooperation serve the interests of the South Caucasus region, as well as the whole world.

Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020 (the second Karabakh war), Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document (and liberated the occupied territories). A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia. A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.

The congressman noted in his statement that Azerbaijan is a strong partner of the US and the country's allies, as well as stressed the role of Azerbaijan in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the service of Azerbaijani troops together with the US troops in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, Azerbaijan's provision of its territory for the transit of goods in order to provide coalition forces in Afghanistan, providing Europe with alternative energy sources through construction The Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Italy, as well as Azerbaijan's provision of about 40 percent of the oil consumed by Israel.

The statement also paid special attention to cooperation with the Jewish community of Azerbaijan and Israel.

In conclusion, the member of the Congress once again revered the memory of the people who died as a result of the Khojaly tragedy, noting that he shares the grief of the Azerbaijanis.