The Khojaly Commemoration Concert – held this year at St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden – was broadcast on London Live television to a potential prime time viewership of 190,000 in Greater London, and on satellite and cable.
This year’s event was organised by The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) under the auspices of the Justice for Khojaly campaign. The programme featured speeches by Lionel Zetter, Director, TEAS and Tale Heydarov, Chairman and Founder, TEAS, and Mrs Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Founder of the Justice for Khojaly campaign was seated in the audience. It included music from some of the best Azerbaijani talent living in the UK. Musicians included Sabina Rakcheyeva, the first Azerbaijani graduate from the Juilliard School in New York and Cultural Advisor, TEAS; Rafiq Rustamov, one of the foremost living exponents of the Azerbaijani tar; pianists Gunel Mirzayeva and Ayyan Salahova; violinist Nazrin Rashidova and soprano Seljan Nasibli.
The programme also contained footage of the inaugural Khojaly Peace Prize, held a couple of days earlier at the Strangers’ Dining Room in the UK Parliament, which focused on UK artists who felt compelled to express their reaction to the Khojaly Massacre.