Ramzi Teymurov, Azerbaijani charge d’affaires to South Korea, inaugurated a photo exhibition at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies on Wednesday that portrays a tragic period in Azerbaijan’s history as an independent nation.

The photo exhibition, entitled “Azerbaijani Realties,” depicts the mass killing of 613 people, including 65 children, near the small town of Khojaly on the night of Feb. 25 and 26, 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring Armenia. The incident became known as the “Khojaly Massacre.”

Teymurov said he wanted to bring the heart-wrenching images of award-winning French photo-journalist Frederique Lengaigne to Seoul to introduce to HUFS students and the general public a lesser-known side of Azerbaijan, a large oil- and gas-producing country in the Caucasus region.

“I have been here a little bit more than one year, and when I introduce myself as a representative of Azerbaijan, the first reaction is: We know it is an oil and gas country,” Teymurov said. “This is obvious because, although our relations with Korea go back to 1992, the development process of our relations started from 2006 and 2007. So, Korean people know a bit more about modern Azerbaijan.”

“If I talk about the modern history of Azerbaijan, I divide it into two spaces: The dark chapter and light chapter of Azerbaijan,” Teymurov said. “It might be also interesting to introduce to Korean people, where we were and where we are now.”

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)