Hundreds of Indian Students share Azerbaijan’s grief of Khojaly Massacre

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 2, 2011 -- Hundreds of Indian students showed solidarity with Azerbaijan on the anniversary of the dreadful tragedy of Khojaly by writing essays on the topic “Khojaly- Lessons for Future”. Drawing similarities between the massacres of Jallianwala Bagh and Khojaly, Indian students vehemently appealed to all mankind to refrain from letting the territorial lust overtake the humane side.

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Hundreds of Indian Students share Azerbaijan’s grief of Khojaly Massacre

H.E. Dr. Tamerlan Karayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan in India appreciated the participation of the students of India in this first ever contest being supported by the Embassy of Azerbaijan. This contest was titled “Khojaly- Lessons for Future”. In this contest, students of Indian schools and colleges wrote hundreds of essays on this topic and won attractive cash prizes. Following are the names of the winners:

College Winners
1. Neha Sharma, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh
2. Shaveta Kohli, Department of Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh
3. Robin Mukherjee, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

School Winners
1. Nikhil Berwal, Satluj Public School, Panchkula
2. Athira Narayanan, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gole Market, New Delhi
3. Arpita Shrivastava, Venkateshwar International School, Sector 10, Dwarka, New Delhi
4. Ayushi Sood, Manav Rachna International School, Faridabad (Special Prize)

The Khojaly Massacre was the killing of hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from the town of Khojaly on 25–26 February 1992 by the Armenian and Russian armed forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

This Essay Writing Contest is the first one in a series of such competitions for Indian students, which is named “Discovering of Azerbaijan”. This program will strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two nations, H.E. Dr. Tamerlan Karayev said. The project includes number of contests dedicated to several aspects of history, culture and social life of contemporary Azerbaijan.

Why it was decided to start this project with “Khojaly- Lessons for Future” is because genocide in Khojaly town has remarkable importance for each Azerbaijani and has become a significant milestone in the contemporary history of their country. Massacre in Khojaly plays a similar role in Azerbaijani history as Jallianwala Bagh massacre on April 13, 1919 in the history of India. This tragic event in Khojaly significantly impacted the formation of Azerbaijani national consciousness and consolidated the nation.

Khojaly and Jallianwala Bagh massacres teach all of us that such atrocities never ever have to be repeated anymore anywhere.

The details of this contest can be found at www. khojalycontest.com

Highlighting the many similarities in culture, traditions and customs of the two nations and countries, Dr.Tamerlan Karayev cited many historical examples. The Azerbaijani-Indian cultural contacts date back to many centuries. In XVII century fire worshipers from Northern India founded “Atashgakh” temple near Baku – the capital of Azerbaijan. The spouse of Mogul Emperor Humayun, Begum Hamida Banu in 1573 invited the outstanding architect Agha Mirak Mirza Giyasi from Tabriz, the ancient capital of Azerbaijan, to Delhi to build a tomb (Humayun Tomb) to commemorate her beloved husband.