BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.5
Trend:
The liberation of Jabrayil began five years ago, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said addressing the meeting with members of the general public of Jabrayil, Trend reports.
“As a result of the April fighting, we created opportunities for the return of our people to the village of Jojuq Marjanli. After the liberation of strategic heights from the occupiers, it was possible for Jojug Marjanli to return to life, and this was our important victory. This was our first great victory after a long break and ceasefire. It is true that the Armenians attempted to downplay this victory at the time. They even stated that these areas were not of great importance and that it was actually the Armenian side that had won. I was saying at the time that we were there, that we were right in their trenches, so how could Armenia have won here? At that time, we liberated a large area – of course, a large area for that time – several thousand hectares, and took control of about 9,000-10,000 hectares. We took very important strategic heights not only in this direction, but also in the direction of Aghdara, and these heights proved highly important in the second Karabakh war. At that time, we rightly celebrated the victory in the April battles as a glorious victory of our Army, and that was the beginning of our return. The return to Jojug Marjanli was the beginning of the Great Return. I remember telling the chairman of the State Committee for Refugees, Ali Hasanov, that I had an idea of returning the residents of Jojug Marjanli to their village. At that time, one family lived there – Ogtay Haziyev's family. I told him to find out if people wanted to go there. It has been a long time, some people had a job in Bilasuvar, others in Baku, there are many jobs now, so ask them whether they want to return or not. After a while, Ali Hasanov told me that almost all of them wanted to return. This made me very happy. Because there were different opinions at the time that even if the lands were liberated, the IDPs may not want to go back. Many of them have not even seen those places. They have children and grandchildren now. But those words showed again how great our people are,” the Azerbaijani president said.
“I immediately issued an order and the State Committee for Refugees built a large settlement in a short time. And I came to the opening of that settlement in 2017. At that time, a settlement of 150 houses was built in stages. A school and a medical center were built. A mosque similar to the Shusha mosque was built there and employment opportunities were created. When I was in Jojuq Marjanli, I said that we had built a mosque similar to the Shusha mosque, the Govharaga Mosque, which is quite symbolic. After the liberation of Shusha, we will restore all our mosques destroyed by the Armenians. Four years later, or three years later, to be more exact, these words were materialized,” President Aliyev said.
“So our Great Return began with Jabrayil and our first major success in the Second Karabakh War is associated with the city of Jabrayil, with Jabrayil district. This is an event that will forever remain in the history of our country. Because our victory in the Second Karabakh War is a historic victory. Such a victory has never happened in the centuries-old history of our people. All our people rallied around this Victory, stood behind our Army, and our Army fulfilled the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief with dignity. I want to say once again that by showing heroism and selflessness, by shedding blood, and giving martyrs, we have restored historical justice, expelled the enemy from our land, and taught the enemy the necessary lessons. The enemy fell to its knees before us, waved the white flag, and from now on the people of Azerbaijan will forever live as a victorious people,” the head of state said.