Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 23
Trend:
Today is the 21st anniversary of the occupation of Azerbaijan's Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions by the armed forces of Armenia.
On August 23, 1993, some 51 villages and centre of the Fuzuli region were seized by the Armenians, resulting in more than 55,000 inhabitants leaving their native land.
The Fuzuli region covers the territory from the south eastern slopes of the Karabakh Mountain range to the Araz River. It borders on the Azerbaijani regions of Khojavand, Jabrayil, Agjabadi, Beylagan and Iran along the Araz River.
The Fuzuli region is 1386 sq.km with a population of approximately 105,000. Some 13 settlements and 20 villages are located in this region, freed from the occupation. Twelve of the settlements were constructed after release and internally displaced families have been given temporarily accommodation.
From 1988, the Fuzuli region has been a subjected to constant attack from Armenians. As a result of the occupation, more than 1100 inhabitants of Fuzuli became martyrs, 113 - were taken prisoner and 1450 people left disabled.
The operations section supervising the devastating effects to the environment and natural resources in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan has identified a number of facts of destruction of natural resources by Armenians in the Fuzuli region in the occupation period. Armenians cut down all the trees in the village of Dovlatyarli located in a forest zone and destroyed green spaces along the roads in the Gochahmadli and Yaglivand villages.
As a result of the seizure of the Jabrayil region whose territory spans 1050 sq.km, 72 secondary school buildings, eight hospitals, five mosques, two museums, 129 historical monuments and 149 cultural centres were left under occupation.
Some 61,100 IDPs from the Jabrayil region settled in more than 2000 settlements in 58 regions of the country.