A MEMORY THAT HAS OUTLIVED TIME

It was the morning of 27 February 1992. Returning to Ganca after its latest mission, the helicopter flown by commander Leonid Kravets flew over the small Azerbaijani town of Xocali. The crew's attention was drawn to a field of colours, but it never occurred to those in the helicopter that as they looked down a vision of hell would open before them.

"The Pilot who saw Hell"

"The whole field was strewn with bodies, and the people had no outer clothes on them. They were dressed in their house clothes and the children in stockings and no shoes. That was why the field looked colourful to us. Armed men walked through the bodies finishing off those who were still alive." These were the impressions shared to journalists by L. Kravets, one of the first witnesses of the massacre of the Azerbaijani population committed by Armenia at Xocali.

The helicopter had to leave the scene of the tragedy when someone started shooting at it. When they got back to Ganca, the crew briefed the authorities about what had happened. A film crew was despatched to Ganca, including the well-known journalist Cingiz Mustafayev, two of his assistants and two police officers.

"For the first three minutes all those who arrived at the scene of the tragedy were in a state of shock. I can remember how some stood grasping their heads, unable to move. The bodies were lying some distance apart from one another. Unfortunately, it never occurred to anyone at the time to photograph all this from above. Filming took no more than 10 minutes. We just could not stay there any longer. It seemed to me that the police captain who was with us went out of his mind when he found the body of his child among the dead. A bullet had torn away part of the child's head. It was enough for the policeman just to bring the child's body into the helicopter. It took force to drag him away," he said. The following day film from the scene of the Xocali tragedy shook the whole world.

Kravets regrets that Azerbaijan has been forced to prove the obvious. "Unfortunately, years later, Azerbaijan still grieves over Xocali. And if necessary, I am prepared to appear as a witness at an international tribunal. My conscience is clear. The only question is: will there be one?" Leonid says.

Now, 24 years on, based on the recollections of the Ukrainian pilot, the documentary film "The Pilot who saw Hell" has been prepared and made. This 30-minute film, which tells of the events of that tragic night as seen by one of the first witnesses of the Xocali massacre, has become the latest act in the context of the international information campaign "Justice for Xocali!"

The first showing of the film took place in Moscow last year. To mark the 24th anniversary of the Xocali tragedy, the film makers also showed the film in Baku. Now, along with former pilot of the USSR Leonid Kravets, the people of Xocali who miraculously escaped death on that tragic night were also among the audience.

A childhood lost at Xocali

"I would like to go back to that day, if only to see my mother, father and brothers again just for an instant. I wish I had died along with them. Now I have no-one left. I am completely alone," recalls Mehdi Aliyev, one of 25 children who lost their parents during the slaughter at Xocali.

Mehdi was just four years old that night. Alone in the woods and miraculously surviving a hail of bullets, the boy was taken prisoner. While searching for his parents and brothers among the prisoners, Mehdi never imagined he would never see them again, that his family had become victims of the Armenian soldiers. Mehdi himself says his rescue was a miracle, but this doesn't make things any easier. The pain and grief at the loss of his loved ones grows stronger every year.

Mehdi's story formed the basis of a 17-minute documentary film "The Children Who Never Grew Up", which was made on the initiative of Elsad Eyvazli, chairman of the Union of Parliamentary Journalists. The film was made last year as part of the information campaign "Justice for Xocali!" with the financial support of the NGO under the President of the Azerbaijani Republic. 

"The idea of making a film arose after the publication of the book "The Children Who Never Grew Up", in which I gathered together the recollections of children who lost both their parents on that terrible night. I realized that I had been given a rare opportunity to show in one film through one hero the horror experienced by the children and the pain they have suffered every day, realizing they would never see their loved ones again. The youngest of these children is now 24 years of age. But they are still children, children who never grew up, children whose childhood was swept away by war, and it is important that the whole world hears their story," Eyvazli said, sharing his memories with R+.

The film was originally translated into English with sub-titles. This year it has been dubbed into English, German, Turkish and Russian and is due to be screened in Germany, Lithuania, Sweden, Indonesia and Holland. Elsad Eyvazli hopes that future presentations of the film in Europe and other countries will be a significant contribution to the work in recognizing the Xocali genocide. After all, the testimonies of witnesses are indisputable proof of the atrocities committed by the Armenians against Azerbaijanis.

"Today the world cannot be surprised by pictures of mutilated bodies, but it is possible to reach out to people's hearts by means of such stories about human destinies, and this should be done now, while there are still witnesses alive and people to tell about these horrors. It may take years to achieve this, but it will be done. The world will give its just assessment of the Xocali genocide," Eyvzali stressed.

Will "The Ceasefire" lead to peace?

Another film about the Karabakh war and the horrors of the Xocali genocide - "The Ceasefire" - also sets out to reach out to people's hearts. The film was made by the Hungarian director, Erik Bognar, as part of a joint project of the Hungarian Turan foundation and the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF), with the financial support of the Council of State Support for Non-Governmental Organizations under the Azerbaijani President.

The film, which was made in Hungarian, has become the first joint work by Hungarian and Azerbaijani journalists. The concept and subject matter of the film were drawn up by Hungarian journalists. The film was shot in Azerbaijan. The film reflects the various stages of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, the story of the unfolding of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and the historical and cultural legacy and traditions of our people. The main message of the film is the injustice, the acts of ethnic cleansing encountered historically by Azerbaijan and the tragedy of Xocali.

"The premiere of the film took place last November in Hungary. It was attended by Turkish and Hungarian diplomats and politicians, the mayors of a number of cities and representatives of the Hungarian public and intellectuals. The film was presented in Azerbaijan this year. Generally speaking, the film is tailored for the European audience. It took two years to make. It could be said that this is the result of many years work by our fund and it provides information about the Karabakh conflict and the recognition by the world community of the act of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan. In the future there are plans for the film to be dubbed into Russian and English and to be shown in other countries," Umud Mirzayev, Chairman of the IEPF, told R+. 

He believes that Azerbaijan should in no way feel despondent and give up; we have no right to do that. "In a globalizing world it is perfectly natural that there are some people who have never heard about this tragedy and do not know the truth about this conflict. Nor should one be offended that some people are indifferent to what happened. On the contrary, it is vital, by using all the achievements and means of information and communications technology, to continue to speak out, reveal the truth and attempt to convey it to the public at large and, at the same time, not to forget the younger generation of our country," Mirzayev says.

In the name of Xocali!

Unfortunately, it is only in recent years that Azerbaijan has managed to convey to the world the truth about this event, its scale and the true facts that preceded this tragedy. A vast amount of work has been done in this direction as part of the international Justice for Xocali! campaign, which has been carried out since 2008 at the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and general coordinator of the youth forum of the Islamic Cooperation Organization.

Every year, as part of this campaign, large-scale events are held, rallies, meetings and exhibitions organized and photo exhibitions arranged in over 100 countries. Recently, a new Internet-page of the international information campaign Justice for Xocali! - www.justiceforkhojaly.org - was launched. It contains detailed information about the town of Xocali before the occupation, its geography, history, economy and people. Photographic and video material from the scene of events, eye-witness testimonies, articles published in the international press in 1992 about the Xocali events, research by foreign authors, a historical chronology and other useful material have been posted on the website.

As a result of this work, more and more countries and international organizations have been added in recent years to the list of those who have recognized the tragedy at Xocali as an act of genocide. Official recognition of the Xocali genocide began on 25 February 2010, when the House of Representatives of the state of Massachusetts in the USA adopted a resolution recognizing the fact that genocide took place in the town of Xocali. As a consequence, the list of American states that recognized the Xocali genocide reached 21. In a short period of time the Xocali genocide has been recognized by 10 states and a number of influential international organizations.

It is now 24 years since the genocide of the peaceful Azerbaijani population of the town of Xocali, perpetrated by Armenian military formations with the support of the 366 motor-rifle regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Xankandi. Is there any point in once again recalling the admissions of personal participation in the massacre by the present Armenian leader, Serzh Sargsyan; one of the leading Armenian ideologists, Zori Balayan, the testimonies of foreign journalists and Russian servicemen who witnessed all these events with their own eyes?

The Xocali massacre, committed by Armenia, which has stirred the people of the world, has been recognized as being particularly cruel among all the crimes committed against humanity. And the more people in the world learn about the truth about Xocali, the more chances humanity has of avoiding such tragedies in the future.