In the course of the undeclared war by Armenia against Azerbaijan started in 1988, the Armenian armed forces with the help of the infantry guards regiment No. 366 of the former USSR implemented the seizure of Khojaly - a town situated in the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Since the Armenian government wanted to annex Nagorny Karabakh despite international legal norms, they demonstrated own readiness to resort to any kind of crime and barbarism.

The town of Khojaly was notoriously overrun and its population of 2500 people was subjected to an unprecedented massacre. As a result of the atrocity committed by Armenian forces, 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly. Another 1,000 people were wounded and 1,275 taken hostage. Until now, 150 people from Khojaly remain missing.

Despite the unavailing attempts of Armenia to conceal the truth about the Khojaly genocide, actions on the ground and testimonials of the witnesses provide complete account that Khojaly was a deliberate military operation of Armenian Armed forces with the target of exterminating civilian population.

Khojaly Genocide Memorial in The Hague, Netherlands

In the book “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war” of the British journalist Thomas de Waal referred to what the current president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan said: “Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that [stereotype]. And that’s what happened.”

With the purpose of introducing the true facts about Khojaly Genocide to the international community, International Awareness Campaign under the motto of “Justice for Khojaly-Freedom for Karabakh” - was initiated by Ms. Leyla Aliyeva, the vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in 2008.

The campaign is aimed at raising international civil awareness through demonstration of creative photos and images of suffered people in the Karabakh conflict and Khojaly Massacre in particular and reaching out globally via media, internet and live events.