OMM Redaksiyası
Today marks six years since Azerbaijan began the Patriotic War.
In response to Armenia’s next military aggression against Azerbaijan, which began on Sept. 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani people launched the Patriotic War under the leadership of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev to liberate the territories under occupation.
In the struggle for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was a cause of justice and honor, Azerbaijani soldiers and officers who demonstrated heroism, civilians working on the home front and the entire nation showed determination and resolve, unity and solidarity as one fist, delivering devastating blows to the enemy.
Many of our compatriots were killed, went missing or were wounded and lost their health. Our territories were liberated from occupation at the cost of the blood and lives of our heroic martyrs, soldiers, officers and veterans.
A total of 2,908 Azerbaijani servicemen were killed in the Patriotic War, while six remain missing.
Unable to withstand the victorious advance of the Azerbaijani Army, the enemy committed war crimes by resorting to provocations and targeting innocent civilians.
Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city and home to numerous historical and cultural monuments; Mingachevir, where strategic facilities including a hydroelectric power plant are located; Yevlakh, through which the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline passes; and the districts of Beylagan, Barda, Tartar, Gabala, Goranboy, Aghjabadi, Absheron, Khizi and others came under fire from ballistic missiles and other heavy artillery systems.
On Sept. 27, 2020, a shell struck the home of Elbrus Isa oglu Gurbanov, a resident of the Gashalty-Garagoyunlu village in Naftalan, killing all five members of one family.
As a result of rocket and heavy artillery attacks on Oct. 4, 5, 8, 11 and 17, 26 people were killed and 175 wounded in Ganja. Civilian infrastructure facilities and vehicles in the city sustained extensive damage.
Armenian armed forces’ rocket and heavy artillery attacks killed 29 people and wounded 112 in Barda district. Civilian infrastructure facilities and vehicles in the district also sustained extensive damage.
Overall, Armenia’s military aggression killed 93 civilians, including 12 children and 27 women, and wounded 454. A total of 12,292 residential and non-residential facilities and 288 vehicles were damaged, while damage was recorded at 1,018 farms.
Between Sept. 27 and Nov. 10, 2020, Armenia shelled the Tartar, Aghjabadi and Goranboy districts, located both on the battlefield and outside the conflict zone, on five occasions using prohibited and extremely dangerous phosphorus bombs.
On Oct. 8 and Nov. 3, 4 and 8, the individuals commanding Armenian armed forces and military formations located in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the Republic of Armenia, as well as the criminal associations they established, grossly violated the requirements of the 1949 Geneva Convention “Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.” They used methods of warfare capable of causing widespread destruction and shelled settlements in the densely populated areas of Fuzuli and Tartar districts, where civilians and individual civilians not participating in hostilities lived. They also deliberately set fire to natural resources and caused particularly extensive damage to the environment by shelling the villages of Arayatli in Fuzuli district and Sahlibad in Tartar district, as well as forests in Shusha containing valuable, centuries-old trees considered natural resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with at least six D-4-type 122-mm artillery shells, each containing 3.6 kilograms of P-4 chemical composition, or white phosphorus. An aggressive war against the Republic of Azerbaijan was planned and waged, and a terrorist crime was committed.
Despite all this, the Azerbaijani Army, under the leadership of Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, liberated the country’s territories from occupation through the 44-day “Iron Fist” operation, restoring Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
During the victorious advance, villages and cities were successively cleared of Armenian occupiers.
On Oct. 3, the Sugovushan settlement in Tartar district was liberated; on Oct. 4, Jabrayil district; on Oct. 9, the Hadrut settlement in Khojavand district; on Oct. 17, Fuzuli district; on Oct. 20, Zangilan district; and on Oct. 25, Qubadli district.
In a unique operation conducted by the Azerbaijani Army, Shusha was liberated on Nov. 8.
President Ilham Aliyev announced the liberation of Shusha in his address to the Azerbaijani people from the Alley of Martyrs.
By an order signed by the head of state on Dec. 3, 2020, Nov. 8 was established in Azerbaijan as Victory Day.
Having realized that it had been defeated in the war, Armenia was forced to sign a capitulation act on Nov. 10, 2020.
On Nov. 10, a statement was signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Under the statement, a complete cessation of fire and all military operations in the area of the Garabagh conflict was declared from 12:00 a.m. Moscow time on Nov. 10, 2020.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent consisting of 1,960 armed servicemen, 90 armored vehicles and 380 vehicles and special-purpose units was deployed along the line of contact in Garabagh and the Lachin corridor.
Under the statement, the Russian peacekeeping contingent was to remain for five years.
A Russia-Turkey Joint Monitoring Center was established to improve the effectiveness of monitoring the parties’ compliance with the agreements.
The trilateral statement also provided for the return of the Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.
Under the statement, Aghdam city and the occupied part of Aghdam district were liberated on Nov. 20, Kalbajar district on Nov. 25, and Lachin district on Dec. 1.
Azerbaijan achieved the liberation of these three districts without suffering any casualties.
In addition, Lachin city and the villages of Zabukh and Sus were brought under control on Aug. 26, 2022.
At the same time, Azerbaijan fully restored its territorial integrity on April 23, 2023, when a border checkpoint was established on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border in the Lachin direction. On Sept. 20, 2023, Azerbaijan fully restored its sovereignty. As a result of local counter-terrorism measures carried out in less than 24 hours, the Armenian army illegally stationed in Azerbaijani territory surrendered and accepted Azerbaijan’s terms, thereby ensuring the full restoration of Azerbaijan’s state sovereignty.
As a logical consequence of the counter-terrorism measures, the Turkey-Russia Joint Monitoring Center established in Aghdam city on Jan. 30, 2021, under a memorandum signed between the Republic of Türkiye and the Russian Federation to monitor the ceasefire regime in the Garabagh region and prevent violations, ceased operations on April 26, 2024. The Russian peacekeeping contingent also fully left Azerbaijan.
On Dec. 2, 2020, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order establishing Sept. 27 as Remembrance Day in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Sept. 27 is observed as Remembrance Day as a mark of deep respect for the soldiers and officers who fought heroically in the Patriotic War, raised the Azerbaijani flag in the liberated territories and sacrificed their lives for the country’s territorial integrity, as well as for all martyrs.
