03:00, 26 February 2011

Azerbaijan to mark 19 years after Khodzhaly tragedy

Today, the 19th anniversary of the tragedy in the city of Khodzhaly will be marked throughout the territory of Azerbaijan.

At night on February 26, 1992, Khodzhaly in Nagorno-Karabakh, populated by Azerbaijanis, was captured by Armenian armed formations with participation of the 366th Infantry Regiment of the former Soviet Army. The military operation was accompanied by massacres of civilians.

Every year on February 26 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, governmental officials, parliamentarians, representatives of the diplomatic corps and country's public visit the memorial to victims of Khodzhaly tragedy erected in the Khatain District of Baku, in order to commemorate the casualties.

Today, the mosques in Azerbaijan are holding religious ceremonies in memory of Khodzhaly victims.

Besides, at 5 p.m. the whole country will hold a minute of silence in memory of tragedy victims: all the traffic in the streets of Azerbaijan will stop.

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent