In remembrance of Azeri massacre

As an Azerbaijani-American, a Turkic-American and member of the U.S. Azeris Network, I am writing to you about an important issue for our community — the 19th Commemoration of Khojaly Massacre. A grave crime was committed against innocent Azeri civilians by the Armenian army, on Feb. 26, 1992, which became and remains the largest massacre of modern times in the region of South Caucasus and Caspian Basin. On that day, military units of Armenia seized the town of Khojaly, in Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) region of Azerbaijan. The Armenian government’s efforts to rid NK of its ethnically Azeri population resulted in the death, wounding and hostage-taking of almost 2,000 innocent civilians, mostly women, children and elderly. Feb. 26, 2011, is a Memorial Day for Azeris, who will always remember the events of 1992, like all Americans will remember those of Sept. 11, 2001. I join with my family and all Azeri-Americans in calling upon you to properly recognize and commemorate this tragedy (on the floor of the Congress or by attending a vigil), and to pressure the Armenian government to accept its responsibility for this massacre and withdraw its troops from the occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

Peggy Tayyibe

Yilmaz Hoffman Estates