We've been setting this exhibition up for nearly two years. I believe that its language – the language of Art – eloquently conveys the great accomplishments our country has made in all spheres of achievement.
The international lobbying action campaign 'Justice For Khojaly!” - which is headed by the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Mrs Leyla Aliyeva – has produced a new book about the campaign titled “Khojaly, witness of a war crime - Armenia in the dock”. The book has been published by the Europe-Azerbaijan Society in both Russian and Turkish, and has been released in both St Petersburg and Istanbul.
It's a collection of material which was first published in English – last year, by the London-based publishers ITHACA Press.
The preface to the book is written by Mrs Leyla Aliyeva. “On the night of 25th and 26th February 1992, one of the most tragic massacres in human history was committed. The Armenian armed forces, with the assistance of a dislocated column of the Soviet Red Army in Khankendi, carried out an ethnic cleansing operation directed at the unarmed civilian population of the town of Khojaly. These events were described as a massacre by all who were in the region at that moment – representatives of the world media, and press agencies who found out what was taking place. The Azerbaijani population heard the news of the incident with intense sadness, and gave honourable burial to its victims – and put all its efforts into repairing the lives of those who had managed to escape being killed in this operation”.
The book, which is titled “ Khojaly, witness of a war crime - Armenia in the dock” is the first independently-published evidence about the events of the Khojaly Massacre to appear in English. As well as including first-hand witness reports of the massacre, the book includes material published by the international press about the incident, the views of international researchers, the assessments of international organisations – and rare photographs of the incident which were captured by foreign photographers on site.