Ceremony of commemoration of the victims of Khojaly massacre was organized In Bern

Ceremony of commemoration of the victims of Khojaly massacre was organized by the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Switzerland in close cooperation with the European Azerbaijan Society on 22 February in Hotel Bellevue Palace in Bern in the framework of Justice for Khojaly campaign launched by Mrs. Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation and General Coordinator of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation.

In his opening speech Ambassador Akram Zeynalli informed the audience about the Khojaly massacre, which he characterized as the most painful tragedy in the recent history of the Azerbaijani people. Further talking about Justice for Khojaly campaign the Ambassador told that the parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Romania, Sudan, and Djibouti, as well as the 16 states in the USA, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation representing 57 countries recognized the Khojaly genocide.

He said that this commemoration event aims at raising awareness among the Swiss people and expressed his belief that the Swiss Parliament will recognize this massacre as a war crime.

In her speech, representative of the European Azerbaijan Society Eliza Pieter, told the audience that this awareness raising campaign is not driven by vengeance, but rather longing for justice, which will be relief for the surviving families of the victims of this tragedy.

The final speaker, French composer Pierre Thilloy said that it was impossible for him to turn a blind eye to this human tragedy, which made him feel his human duty before the victims of the massacre by composing his piece of music entitled Khojaly 613.

Then followed the performance of Khojaly 613 piece along with the works of several Azerbaijani and Western composers.

The event was attended by the representatives of Swiss public institutions, diplomatic corps accredited in Bern, local community as well as members of the Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora.