Turkey condemns Khojaly massacre on 27th anniversary

Turkey on Tuesday strongly condemned the Khojaly massacre killing hundreds of Azerbaijanis on its 27th anniversary and ongoing occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia.

In a written statement, the Foreign Ministry recalled that "hundreds of Azerbaijani citizens including women and children were massacred, wounded, or taken hostages by the troops of the Republic of Armenia during their attack on Khojaly town in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region on Feb. 26, 1992".

"As a result of this aggression against civilians and the Armenian occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, more than a million Azerbaijanis became displaced from their homes and forced to live a refugee life in their homeland," it said.

"We strongly condemn this massacre and the ongoing occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia," the ministry stressed.

Turkey deeply sympathizes with her Azerbaijani brothers and sisters over this massacre which they suffered 27 years ago in Khojaly, the statement added.

"We wish God's mercy upon those who lost their lives in this massacre and extend our condolences to our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters," it read.

The 1992 Khojaly Massacre is seen as one of the bloodiest incidents of the battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan for control of the now-occupied Upper Karabakh region.

The two-hour Armenian offensive killed 613 Azerbaijani citizens, including 116 women and 63 children, and critically injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures. Also, 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during the massacre remain missing.