One needs to know history in order not to forgive evil, to preserve the memory of the fallen and build a just and peaceful future
The twentieth century was a brutal age. It is an era associated with the blood, pain and tragedies of humankind. It is an epoch of two devastating wars that completely stretched people’s imagination concerning what was permissable. We know that the tragic milestones of the Second World War like “the ashes of Klaas” knock in the hearts of those whose ancestors survived Khatyn, Lidice and Coventry. Each of these names is forever inscribed in the annals of the tragic events of the last century for the edification of posterity. But now we realize that the experience of history in the late 20th century was filled with new names of settlements that are saturated with someone's pain, memories of dead fathers, mothers, children, sisters and brothers.
Khojaly is a tragic milestone in the memory not only of the Azerbaijani people, but also of all those who sincerely want this never to happen again in the future. The memory of the six hundred and thirteen dead civilians is not just a figure from a textbook on modern history. It is an open wound in the soul of its contemporaries. Having paid tribute to the victims, first of all, we must think and act in a direction which will prevent the recurrence of such events in any place in the Southern Caucasus, of post-Soviet Eurasia. And I would like to draw your attention to the noble mission of the international information and propaganda campaign "Justice for Khojaly", initiated by the representatives of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Russia and personally by its chairwoman, Leyla Aliyeva.
The main task of the campaign is to tell the world the truth about the Khojaly tragedy. It is obvious to anyone feeling compassion for the victims. It is obvious and familiar to me as a historian. We are forgetting too many things, on the basis of simple statistical characteristics - the number of people killed or false ideas about political expediency. But we forget that among those killed that terrible night were 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly people. Anyone who has a heart, regardless of their nationality, should be deeply ashamed. How did we let it happen, brought up together in the walls of the common house of the USSR?
The words “this should never happen again” seem to be simple, but they have a special meaning. Humanity needs to know history so that our words and actions correspond to the highest aspirations. Not to forgive the evil, to preserve the memory of the fallen and build a just and peaceful future for their children.
