BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 8
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Azerbaijan is getting ready to mark the first anniversary of the second Karabakh war, which began on September 27, 2020, and within 44 days resulted in liberation of Azerbaijan's lands from Armenian occupation.
Reza Deghati, a world-famous photojournalist who closely followed both the first and the second Karabakh war, spoke with Trend about his observations in both wars.
According to him, the destruction of cultural monuments in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan for almost 30 years has always caused grief.
“The glorious victory rejuvenated us all inwardly, spiritually,” he added.
Deghati also stressed that he had been working as a photojournalist for 12 years when the first Karabakh war broke out.
"Unfortunately, when the war broke out, Azerbaijan had neither an army nor weapons. Most of the Azerbaijani servicemen were volunteers. At that time, there was no unified policy," he said.
"On the other hand, during the first Karabakh war, Armenians committed the “Khojaly Genocide“ to create fear among the civilian population, he added.
"In the first days of the counter-offensive a year ago, I did not imagine that the war would be at this level. But later I realized that the issue was more serious," he said.
“I left for Azerbaijan, canceling or postponing all my contracts in other countries. For this purpose, I contacted magazines and agencies that support independent photojournalists. However, they did not support me in the Karabakh issue. However, when such incidents occurred in other countries, they immediately supported me, because they just wanted to spread the views of the Armenian side,” the photojournalist noted.
Deghati emphasized the most important fact in the second Karabakh war was the liberation of Shusha.
"I could not believe my ears when they told me how Azerbaijani soldiers entered Shusha, because I have seen wars in the mountains in Afghanistan. However, it was impossible to go to Shusha on the same route as Azerbaijani soldiers. Indeed, the liberation of Shusha was a great heroism. Films and books should be created about it,” he said.
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