Ceremony attended by Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser, other high officials including diplomats
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 20, (Asia Free Press): Azerbaijan embassy in Pakistan has celebrated its country 30th anniversary of the restoration of the independence day at capital Islamabad.
The ceremony that held at a local hotel on Monday evening, was attended by Asad Qaiser, the speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, high government officials and diplomats of various countries based in Islamabad.
Qaiser while speaking on the occasion, congratulated the government and people of Azerbaijan on their independence day and said his country always stood with Azerbaijan and will continue in future as well.
“Pakistan and Azerbaijan enjoy close brotherly relations, manifested by the tremendous goodwill existing between the leadership and people of the two countries [and] the whole world is witness to the strong bonds of fraternity that bind our two nations,” Qaiser said.
He added that last month, on 27 September, people of Azerbaijan commemorated the Memorial Day to honour their shaheeds [martyars] who laid down their lives in defence of motherland and in order to demonstrate their love for the brotherly people of Azerbaijan, Pakistan also celebrated the Remembrance Day.
“The victory of Azerbaijan in last year’s war was a remarkable feat. No wonder, the liberation of Azerbaijani territories was also celebrated in Pakistan. The leadership, armed forces and people of Azerbaijan deserve appreciation for this accomplishment,” he added.
This year, on Oct. 18, Azerbaijancelebrated its 30th anniversary of the restoration of independence.
During last one century Azerbaijan had to restore its sovereignty twice.
The first time it was relatively short period, and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first republic in the muslim world history established in 1918 but existed only for 23 months.
Azerbaijan was able to secure its state independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1991, and Azerbaijani people gained their long-awaited freedom after years of oppression. On March 2, 1992, Azerbaijan became a member of the UN.
“This year, the celebration of the restoration of Azerbaijan’s independence is special, it is twice happiness of my people and our friends. Because this year Azerbaijan marks the first anniversary of the liberation of its territories from the Armenian occupation,” said Khazar Farhadov, ambassador of Azerbaijan to Pakistan.
He was referring, the last year victory of his country against Armenia.
In September 2020 when new clashes erupted after the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.
During the 44-day conflict, which ended in a truce on Nov. 10, 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages in Karabakh from a nearly three-decade occupation.
The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement last November to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
The truce is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have been withdrawing in line with the agreement.
Before the victory, about 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory had been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly 30 years.
Pakistan and Turkey morally and politically supported Azerbaijan during the war against Armenia.
“I would like to stress that Pakistan was one of the first countries that recognized the independence of Azerbaijan, demonstrating strong and valuable support over all these years,” said the ambassador and adding during the Patriotic War government and people of Pakistan morally and politically supported Azerbaijan, the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan adopted resolutions condemning Armenian aggression and supporting Azerbaijan’s just position to restore its territorial integrity.
“This is a true demonstration of brotherhood. Azerbaijan, fully supports the settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.
