ISLAMABAD : September 27,2022: Martyrs Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan every year on 27th September.
On this occasion a gracious ceremony was held at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Islamabad in which a tribute was paid to the martyrs.
On this occasion, the national anthems of Pakistan and Azerbaijan were played at the Azeri embassy and a one minute’s silence was observed in memory of the martyrs.
Ambassador of Azerbaijan, Khizr Farhadov, while holding a press conference, said that Armenia illegally occupied Azerbaijan’s territory for almost 30 years. During these years, Armenia used provocation tactics against Azerbaijan.
He said two years ago on September 27, 2020, a retaliatory operation was launched in response to an Armenian military attack on Azerbaijani army bases and civilian settlements.
At the end of the 44-day war, he said , the armed forces of Azerbaijan, under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief President Ilham Aliyev, liberated the territories of Azerbaijan from Armenian occupation and forced Armenia to sign a treaty recognizing Azerbaijan’s historic victory.
He said September 27 is commemorated as Martyrs’ Day for the Azerbaijani soldiers and officers who bravely fought in the war, raised the flag of Azerbaijan in the liberated lands and sacrificed their lives for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
The Azeri ambassador said that of the 67 mosques in the areas that were under Armenian occupation, 65 have been razed to the ground and the remaining 2 have been severely damaged and desecrated, turning them into pig and cow stables. were used, even cemeteries were desecrated, destroyed and looted.
Azerbaijan’s Patriotic War ended Armenia’s nearly 30-year policy of aggression۔, the ambassador added
۔Azerbaijan secured territorial integrity, and basic rights were restored to approximately one million displaced Azerbaijanis. Azerbaijan alone ensured the implementation of the 1993 UN Security Council resolutions.
He said that the Islamic brotherhood country of Pakistan had supported the former Karabakh conflict from the very first day as well as morally and politically supported the fair stand of Azerbaijan during the Patriotic War in 2020 and it was unconditionally supported and immensely appreciated by the government and people of Azerbaijan.
Immediately after independence, Azerbaijan began large-scale reconstruction and rehabilitation in the liberated areas.
In 2021 and 2022, the government of Azerbaijan allocated approximately $3 billion for large-scale reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in liberated lands. Fuzuli International Airport which was built in just 8 months is now operational. 2 more international airports Zangilan and Lachen are under construction and will be operational very soon.
Displaced Azerbaijanis have already returned to Agali village in the liberated Zangila region, which was rebuilt based on the “smart village” concept.
Shusha, the cultural capital of Azerbaijan, has already become a center of international events. “Pakistan Colors” group performed “Bhangra” dance at the 5th “Kharibal Bull” International Folklore Festival that held at Shusha in May 2022.
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According to the ambassador , Azerbaijan made a peace offer to Armenia shortly after the war. It was perhaps one of the few instances in the world’s military history when lands were occupied for 30 years, people lived in misery and deprivation, historical and religious monuments were destroyed, cities were razed to the ground, and more than one million landmines were laid, and still Azerbaijan offers peace.
However, Armenia is not interested in peace. Demarcation has been proposed by Azerbaijan which is delayed by Armenia. We have proposed 5 principles for signing a peace agreement with Armenia that they have accepted verbally but practically not manifested, the ambassador noted.
Additionally, he said, Armenia has repeatedly committed military provocations against Azerbaijan in the past few months. More than 1,400 new landmines were laid in Lachen district alone, and these were laid in 2021 after the war. This is a clear act of terrorism against Azerbaijan. Since the end of the war, more than 240 Azerbaijani civilians have been killed or seriously injured by landmine blasts.
On September 13, the Armenian armed forces once again staged a large-scale provocation in the directions of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border in Dashkasan, Kalbazar and Lachin. Sabotage groups of the Armenian armed forces cut off the areas and supply roads between the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, using the mountainous terrain of the area and the gaps in the existing trenches, but of course the magnificent Azerbaijani army responded and drove the enemy back to its place.
On September 13, our soldiers were martyred again.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the media representatives of Pakistan who have contributed to highlighting the facts of Azerbaijan to the Pakistani people as well as internationally”, the ambassador concluded.