Azerbaijan’s main goal after its victory against Armenia is to restore Karabakh, foreign policy advisor to the country’s president Hikmet Hajiyev said Friday.
Speaking at a media forum of the Turkic Council in Istanbul, Hajiyev noted that during the 30-year Armenian occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, cities and villages in these lands were completely destroyed.
“It is impossible to imagine such destruction in the 21st century. Our goal is to call for peace to prevent such incidents in the future,” Hajiyev said.
Furthermore, he noted that Azerbaijani cultural heritage in occupied territories was also reduced to rubble.
“As many as 67 mosques were destroyed. Livestock was kept in mosques, which is an insult to Islam,” Hajiyev said.
Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.
During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the nearly three-decade occupation.
On Nov. 10 last year, the two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
On Jan. 11, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region. It included the establishment of a trilateral working group on Karabakh.
The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces withdrew in line with the agreement.
Prior to this victory, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory had been under illegal occupation for nearly 30 years.
