ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Azerbaijan embassy in Pakistan on Monday has marked the first anniversary of the last year “44-Day Patriotic War”and liberation of Karabakh region.
During the last year 44-day war, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from Armenia after nearly three-decade occupation.
Speaking to a news conference in Azerbaijan embassy in Islamabad, ambassador Khazar Farhadov paid rich tribute to the martyrs of the last year war and said his country implemented the UN Security Council resolutions by itself.
“Armenian occupation remained for 30 years and during that time they committed notorious war crimes against the citizen of Azerbaijan,” he said.
“The occupation [of Armenian] was accompanied with notorious war crimes and crimes against humanity. Armenia committed the Khojaly genocide in February 1992, killing hundreds of civilians, including 106 women and 63 children,” he added.
“1275 Azerbaijanis were taken hostage, 150 of them are still missing.”
Due to Armenian occupation and atrocities nearly one million Azerbaijani citizens were displaced while their houses and villages were destroyed by the occupational forces.
in 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions and called on Armenian to immediately and completely withdraw its forces unconditionally from the territories of Azerbaijan.
However, despite passing of 30 years, UNSC failed to implemented its resolutions and neither took any action against Armenia.
“UNSC has implemented some of its resolutions within hours but they didn’t implemented its four resolutions over Azerbaijan territories and Azerbaijan is the first country in UN history to implemented UN Security Council resolutions by itself,” he said while expressing disappointment over UN role.
“In July 2020, Armenia committed a military provocation on the state border with Azerbaijan. As a result of an artillery strike in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan, 13 servicemen and civilians were killed. In August last year, an Armenian sabotage group tried to penetrate through the former line of contact in order to commit terrorist acts against Azerbaijani military servicemen and civilians, but was successfully neutralized by us.”
On Sept. 24, last year Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev while addressing to the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly warned that Armenia preparing for a new aggression against Azerbaijan.
Three days later, on Sept. 27, Armenia launched a large-scale attack on Azerbaijani military positions and civilians.
“In response, Azerbaijan launched a counterattack in its own territories against Armenia, using the right to self-defense enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter,” the ambassador said.
He added that during the 44 days, last year the Armenian armed forces intensively fired on the regions and cities along and also far from the frontline.
“Armenia used ballistic missiles such as the Scud and Iskander-M, as well as banned white phosphorus and cluster munitions. As a result of these Armenian war crimes, more than 100 civilians, including 11 children, were killed and more than 450 were injured. More than 12,000 civilian infrastructure, including individual houses, has been destroyed or severely damaged in Azerbaijan.”
During the 30 years occupation, Armenian forces deliberately destroyed cities and villages, looted and plundered all cultural and religious monuments of Azerbaijan.
“Armenia has committed a serious ecocide in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. 60,000 hectares of our forests have been destroyed, cut down and transported, and lands and rivers have been polluted,” teh ambassador said.
According to Azerbaijan envoy , 4,000 of his citizens registered as missing during the First Karabakh War and urged that Armenia must inform them about their fate.
“We have solid evidence that almost all of them were tortured to death by Armenian servicemen in violation of international humanitarian law and buried in mass graves.”
After liberation of Azerbaijan territories, now the government has launched reconstruction of all areas and built an international airport at Fuzuli only in eight months.
“Azerbaijan began to revive the liberated territories, which were completely destroyed by Armenia. Azerbaijan began to rebuild and restore its territories. In just 8 months, the Fizuli international airport was built in Azerbaijan, and work is underway in all the liberated territories.”
Azerbaijan envoy thanked to Pakistan for support and stood with his country and said his nation will always remember their true friends.
“I would like also to emphasize in particular that we are grateful for the resolute position of brother Pakistan on the issues of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity before and during the Patriotic War,” he said and adding during the Patriotic War government, Parliament and people of Pakistan morally and politically supported Azerbaijan, condemning Armenian aggression and supporting Azerbaijan’s just position to restore its territorial integrity.
“This is a true demonstration of brotherhood. Azerbaijan supports the settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he concluded.
Earlier, the journalists also visited to a photo exhibition where the ambassador briefed the reporters regarding war crimes committed by Armenian and showed the photos of villages, mosques, historical places that destroyed by Armenian forces during their occupation.