(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Fuad Muxtar-Aqbabali
Since the 2016 Lala Tapa win, viewed as the harbinger of Baku's
future victories, the triumphant Azerbaijani army has been
re-establishing control over the nation's lands that had been torn
away and handed over to Armenia during the Soviet era or were
occupied following the years of the political and economic turmoil
of the 1990s that coincided with the empire's demise.
In concert with the military, political, and diplomatic tools
and the full backing of the nation, the mission is being realized
day by day through reinstating control over torn-off lands. The
mission will only be declared accomplished when Azerbaijan restores
complete control over its own lands that are being controlled by
alien forces and nations.
The Shusha international conference on August 27 with nearly 200
foreign diplomats and Azerbaijani officials coincided with the
August 26 pivotal takeover of Lachin and surrounding Zabukh and Sus
villages by the Azerbaijani army.
The importance of shoring up its own position over the
strategically crucial Lachin city cannot be over-or-underestimated
since the loss of the city in 1992 signaled the impending
catastrophe for Azerbaijan and led to the loss of 20 percent of
territories. Armenia had used the vital road to connect with the
Karabakh separatists and supply them with weapons for further
occupations that went on until November of 2020.
With Lachin bordering Armenia and two villages returning to
Azerbaijan's control, new horizons are opening for official Baku to
broaden rebuilding, reconstruction, and resettlement efforts as the
border with Armenia is now fully controlled.
'Azerbaijan has been implementing a very rare and unprecedented
reconstruction project within the framework of post-conflict
realities. The work is being carried out precisely within the
framework of the Azerbaijani government's own efforts, resources,
and management mechanism. The international community and the
diplomatic corps are also seriously interested in this issue as
this experience of Azerbaijan can be applied in other regions of
the world. Recently, an extensive fact-finding mission was sent by
the UN, the European Union, and the World Bank to the liberated
territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the concept of
post-conflict reconstruction. They prepared a detailed report to
this effect. As representatives of the international community,
they admit that two important points stand out - the scale of
destruction and the speed of reconstruction. This once again shows
that the international community closely monitors the projects
carried out by Azerbaijan,' Hikmat Haciyev, top presidential
foreign policy aide, said in Shusha.
Hikmat Hajiyev also shed light on various aspects of
Azerbaijan's future logical steps on how to bring Armenia to its
senses for signing a peace treaty, slamming Yerevan's attempts to
torpedo the overall process of Karabakh coming under Baku's full
control as well as the arch-enemy's ongoing propaganda campaign
even after the second Karabakh war.
Armenia hypocritically continues mine-planting policy
Lashing out at Armenia's ongoing mine-planting policy, the
presidential aide said that the Shusha conference was vital in
terms of looking into details of Azerbaijan's reconstruction
efforts in the region devastated by Armenia throughout the nearly
30-year-long occupation.
In remarks to reporters, Hajiyev said that“in particular, the
participants in the event were informed about the policy of
vandalism pursued by Armenia during the occupation. Throughout the
journey, they saw the destroyed territories. Detailed information
is also provided on Armenia's mine-planting policy over the years,
the humanitarian problems that Azerbaijan is facing, as well as the
problems associated with mine-clearing”.
To reinforce his point, he said that“only in one place, over
900 antipersonnel mines were found, which were manufactured in
Armenia in 2021. This once again indicates that Armenia is
hypocritically continuing its mine-planting policy,' adding that
recently, as part of Operation Revenge, the Azerbaijani army took
control of some strategic heights and military posts along the
Kalbajar-Lachin direction.
Aide raps Armenian propaganda, misinformation, and
manipulation
'There is widespread propaganda, misinformation, and
manipulation by Armenia,' Hikmat Haciyev continued in Shusha.
'President Ilham Aliyev always emphasizes that he knows what to
do, when, how, and in what way. This was once again proved by the
transfer of the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabukh and Sus
to full control of our country and the deployment of our army in
these villages yesterday. There is widespread propaganda,
misinformation, and manipulation by Armenia. The international
community is being misinformed.
“The facts that the Armenians living there are part of the
illegal settlement policy and that illegal settlement is a war
crime according to the Geneva Convention and international law were
also conveyed to the international community. All these are steps
taken on the basis of agreements. This is one of the conditions
defined in the trilateral statement, and Azerbaijan has fully
established its sovereignty over the city of Lachin. The president
uses our country's political, diplomatic, military, and other
resources to bring our people to these goals. Yesterday's tweet of
the president made every Azerbaijani citizen once again experience
the joys we experienced during the war,' the presidential aide
added.
'Attempts to resuscitate the OSCE Minsk Group hypocritical and
shameful step
Attempts to resuscitate the OSCE Minsk Group are a hypocritical
and shameful step, Hajiyev reiterated in Shusha and lambasted the
US and French ambassadors to Baku for ignoring Baku's invitation to
attend the Shusha conference.
'They have openly ignored the invitation of the Azerbaijani
government. We cannot understand their absence. Indeed, the city of
Shusha does not need the participation of those countries. It is up
to them whether to participate in the conference or not. We
probably will not invite them at all from now on. But their
statements about the resuscitation of the Minsk Group once again
show what mission they carried out within the 30-year-long
negotiations process. It cannot be understood what they can't
digest. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan or the
reconstruction and restoration works in the city of Shusha?”
Hajiyev questioned.
The official urged them to respond to the Azerbaijani people's
logical question on their failure to this effect.
“Therefore, first of all, they must answer to the people of
Azerbaijan. If they consider themselves a friendly country to
Azerbaijan, they should know that Shusha is of great value to the
Azerbaijani people; Shusha is the apple of the eye of the
Azerbaijani people, the city in the heart of every Azerbaijani
citizen. The fact that they did not come here once again shows what
goals they serve to and what they were interested in during the 30
years of the negotiations process - which took Azerbaijan's time,'
he added.
'Someone's attempts to revitalize the OSCE Minsk Group are a
hypocritical and shameful step. The states that carry out the
mission of co-chairing the Minsk Group should be somewhat ashamed
of the international community. Because based on the UN Charter and
the decisions of the Security Council, those states were vested
with the mandate of the international community to eliminate
injustice and stop occupation and aggression. Not an inch of
Azerbaijani land was liberated from occupation, and not one
Azerbaijani citizen returned to their land. Appointing someone as
co-chair of the Minsk Group after 30 years of unsuccessful activity
is just a shameful step. There is no such institution for us
anymore. The Minsk Group is an institution that committed suicide,
the Minsk Group is already a part of history,' Hajiyev said
confidently.
He also rapped the UN for inactivity regarding the restoration
of the Azerbaijani territories in the post-war period.
No activity has been done by the UN and its sub-institutions
regarding Azerbaijan since the end of the conflict, Hikmet Hajiyev
said, adding that the UN leadership has not visited the region
since the end of the conflict.
'The UN leadership had to visit the region in the post-conflict
period and appreciate the implementation of the Security Council
resolutions. Unfortunately, just as the resolutions of the UN
Security Council remained on the table for 30 years, we do not
observe any serious action by the UN leadership in this
matter.'
Goals of Susa International Conference
'Today, Shusha is turning into one of the diplomatic centers and
capitals not only for Azerbaijan but also for the South Caucasus.
The crux of the conference is to inform the representatives of the
diplomatic corps on the spot about the reconstruction projects
implemented by Azerbaijan,' Hikmat Hajiyev said.
'The participants, in particular, include ambassadors and
diplomatic representatives from Ankara, Tehran, and Moscow. About
180 representatives of the diplomatic corps are participating in
this event. Representatives of the diplomatic corps are interested
in regularly receiving information about the work done by the
Azerbaijani government in the liberated territories. Therefore, at
this conference, one of our main goals is to inform the
representatives of the diplomatic corps about the strengthening of
peace in the region by Azerbaijan and the peace agenda implemented
by our country. Based on the interview given by the Azerbaijani
president to the media in Basgal, extensive information was
conveyed about the details of the regional peace agenda of our
country, and important points and theses were touched upon. The
diplomatic corps was informed on the basis of the special tasks and
theses set by the president in this regard, Hajiyev concluded.
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