BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 25
By Jani Babayeva - Trend:
The return of the Kalbajar district to Azerbaijan is not just a victory, but also an important and significant event, another act of the triumph of historical justice, former head of the CIS department of Russian Foreign Center under the Russian Foreign Ministry, political expert Tatyana Poloskova told Trend.
"First of all, it must be pointed out that before the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict there never was an Armenian population in the Kalbajar district,” Poloskova reminded.
“According to the last census conducted in the Soviet times, 99 percent of the district’s population were Azerbaijanis," she said.
The expert also noted that leaving this territory, Armenians burn houses, schools, other buildings, cut down trees.
"These are vandalism acts and the behavior of newcomers," she added.
Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.
A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were introduced at 00:00 hours (Moscow time) on 10 November 2020.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of the Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery on Sept. 27. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front.
Back in July 2020, the Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district. As a result of Azerbaijan's retaliation, the opposing forces were silenced. The fighting continued the following days as well. Azerbaijan lost a number of military personnel members, who died fighting off the attacks of the Armenian Armed Forces.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.