Some 60,000 Azeris gathered in Baku Feb. 26 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly massacre in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh [2]. President Ilham Aliyev participated in the mass gathering at Azadlig Square. Young people held portraits of the victims, under banners reading, "The world must recognize the Khojaly genocide" and "No to Armenian fascism!" (News.az [3], Feb. 26)
By Azerbaijan's count, 613 Khojaly residents were killed on Feb. 26, 1992, as the town fell to Armenian troops backed up by the ex-Soviet 366th regiment. Fleeing civilians were ambushed at several points and gunned down on the roads; survivors fled into the forest and mountains. Over the coming days, many were hunted down there—some having their bodies mutilated and scalped as the notorious Karabakh "war trophies." The Armenian regime has not denied the attack, but insists the death toll is exaggerated. Turkey [4] and Azerbaijan [5] have called for world recognition of the massacre as a crime against humanity. Ethnic Armenian forces now control Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within Azerbaijan. Some 30,000 were killed and 1 million displaced during the six-year conflict. A ceasefire was declared in 1994, but violations have been frequent and diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have failed. (AP [6], Feb. 26; Khojaly.org [7], Justice for Khojaly [8]) (See maps, Azerbaijan [9], Nagorno-Karabakh [10])
The Armenia-based Vallex Group [11] has meanwhile launched copper, lead and barite exploration in Nagorno-Karabakh, where a vein in the Drmbon-Mahmaninskiy region is believed to contain rich deposits. Vallex is already boosting copper production in Armenia [12] proper, becoming a major supplier to Europe—although second to regional leader Georgia [5]. (News.ar [13], Feb. 17; News.ar [14], Feb. 26)
See our last posts on the struggle for the Caucasus [15] and the global mineral cartel [16].
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