(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Fatime Letifova Read more
Shusha is one of the important centers of Azerbaijan'shistorical, cultural, social, and political life.
However, as a result of the Armenian military aggression againstAzerbaijan, Shusha was occupied on May 8, 1992. After occupyingAzerbaijan's internationally recognized territories, Armenia triedto create a separatist puppet regime on the sovereign territoriesof Azerbaijan, namely the former Nagorno-Karabakh region, includingShusha, and seven adjacent districts.
During this process over 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killedand one million others were expelled from their hometowns in abrutal ethnic cleansing policy conducted by Armenia.
Before the Armenian occupation, Shusha hosted many museums,secondary and higher education institutions, schools, andlibraries. The occupying forces annihilated all these culturalassets. Because Armenia pursued a policy of destroying thehistorical and cultural heritage of real owners- Azerbaijanis inthe city.
This“cleansing” campaign was part of an overall genocidalstrategy destined to sustain the occupiers' propagandisticdiscourse and convey an imagined history that expunges thepredominant Azerbaijani presence over its territory.
While these vile actions amount to crimes against humanity, theprevailing double standards in the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) and the international justice system have made recourse tothose instruments futile.
Almost 30 years later, after the 44-day Patriotic War theAzerbaijani President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev,announced Shusha's liberation from Armenian occupation. The centerof the city hosted Azerbaijan's tricolor flag.
Shusha's liberation was the Azerbaijani army's successfuloperation, which predetermined the outcome of the Patriotic War. OnNovember 7, Azerbaijani special forces made their way through denseforests and ravines, hard-to-reach mountain passes. Azerbaijan'sbrave fighters entered Shusha from several directions, withhand-to-hand fighting ensuing. During the battle, Armenian troopslaunched a rocket attack on Shusha, firing Iskander missilestargeting the Azerbaijani special forces. Despite Armenia'sresistance, the valiant Azerbaijani army liberated Shusha onNovember 8.
After Shusha regained its freedom, restoration, construction,and reconstruction work started in the city. Thus, new schools,mosques, hospitals, several important facilities, and residentialbuildings, are being built.
During this period, Shusha also hosted plenty of local andinternational events. To support the revival of the cultural lifeof the city, music festivals, poetry days, and numerous local andinternational cultural events have been held.
It is worth noting that 2022 was declared the year of Shusha inAzerbaijan. Over the past four years, President Ilham Aliyev andFirst Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited Shusha many times and observedthe repair, restoration, and reconstruction works carried outthere.
With the opinion of the 12th Conference of Ministers of Culturein the Islamic World conference participants, Shusha was declaredthe capital of the Islamic world for 2024, in Doha, Qatar.
Last month, the lottery was held among the families to betransferred to the city of Shusha at the initial stage of the Shusha District Executive Power and thePublic Council under the State Committee attended the event.
The families to be relocated to Shusha City will be providedwith apartments in multi-apartment buildings. The drawing of lotsamong the families to be relocated to Shusha City will continue ina phased manner.
The Azerbaijani leadership has proven to be astonishingly adeptat handling the intricacies of war and peace.
Nowadays the progress towards the peace treaty betweenAzerbaijan and Armenia is ongoing. It should not be forgotten thatthe conclusion of the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armeniaguarantees development in many areas.
First of all, if there is no war or conflict in the region,there is no need for the mediation of external forces. This meansthat Azerbaijan and Armenia will not only recognise each other'sborders, but will also start cooperating within the framework ofthe open door principle.
Secondly, Armenia's signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijanwill contribute to its relations with Turkiye, and the borders willopen, which will massively affect Armenia's economic structure. Onthe other hand, Armenia will also benefit from Azerbaijan's giantoil and gas projects as well as its projects, in green energy.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the development of Armenia in theregion will undermine the plans of colonialist countries likeFrance to influence the South Caucasus for evil purposes. Yerevanwill no longer have to be a toy for other countries and play intothe hands of some Western organisations.
Undoubtedly, the signing of the peace treaty in the region willcontribute a lot to Armenia as well as Azerbaijan and will maintainlong-term security in the South Caucasus.
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