BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 12
Trend:
We now have supplies of food, roads and power lines there, so there are conditions for normal service. But when we look at Armenian posts, we see how deplorable they are, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels on January 12, 2022, Trend reports.
"A very extensive program was launched last year. It would take a long time to list all these activities, but I should emphasize the main issues again, so that the people of Azerbaijan can see that, looking at the experience of post-war countries, this is indeed the largest program in history in terms of its proportions. As you mentioned, what makes this program quite special is that we are doing it at our own expense, without asking for or receiving help from anyone. Of course, there had to be a sequence here as well. This sequence has to be based on logic. First of all, what do we need? First of all, demining work should be carried out. Both ANAMA and the Ministry of Defense are active in this area, as is the Ministry of Emergency Situations. This process is going on. Unfortunately, we are still losing people. Since the war ended, about 200 Azerbaijani citizens – both civilian and soldiers – have been killed or seriously injured. Therefore, without doing this, we cannot start a large-scale return program. For this reason, first of all, the focus of the demining work has been on places where there is infrastructure, i.e. power lines and roads. Those areas had to be cleared first so that we could start this work. On the other hand, the process of demining the cities for which a master plan has been prepared is progressing fast, especially Shusha and Aghdam. First of all, we had to create electricity infrastructure because the local terrain of the liberated territories, especially in the mountains, is such that if there is no infrastructure, it will be very difficult, perhaps even impossible, for the military to serve there. Just imagine that there were no settlements in the parts of Kalbajar and Lachin districts bordering on Armenia in the Soviet times. No-one lived there and there were no roads for tens of kilometers from the border. It starts to snow there in October and the snow melts in May. Just imagine the scale of the work we had to carry out in a short time. I can say that many don’t know this. In those regions alone – in Kalbajar, Lachin, Zangilan and Gubadli – on the border with Armenia, we have built about 700 kilometers of roads. These can be considered service roads, military roads. These are roads leading to our positions, roads to borders, roads to high mountains, roads to hills," the Azerbaijani president said.
"We had to bring in equipment, we had to bring in specialists. Our workers are regularly fired upon from that side. Unfortunately, Armenia did not learn the lessons of the second Karabakh war. Therefore, we were able to do it in a very difficult situation, and today we are settled in all major checkpoints along the border. Not only have we settled there, we have also built a modern infrastructure to be able to serve there. Because the weather is very cold there and the service conditions are quite harsh. The thickness of the snow is around 3-4 meters. We now have supplies of food, roads and power lines there, so there are conditions for normal service. But when we look at Armenian posts, we see how deplorable they are. In other words, they are stationed in tents and have to fight the cold while serving. Therefore, both roads and power lines are needed for this purpose. Because we had to access those borders, we had to protect this border. And we have achieved this now – all along the border from the Araz to Murov Mountain. At the same time, the process of creating electricity infrastructure has begun, as we built seven substations on all liberated lands in one year and connected all these substations to a common circular network. None of them now can operate on its own. In other words, for example, the power received from there now and the power produced at hydropower plants are fed into in the general network. This allows us the opportunity to avoid a crisis. This was a huge and difficult job. Just imagine – seven substations in one year, in places where there is no housing, there are mines and there is no infrastructure. This is a great sacrifice. In particular, in winter, in the snowy conditions in Kalbajar district, electric pylons were installed from Dashkasan, which is 3,500 meters high. This is a great sacrifice indeed and shows our potential. So this shows that we are not only financially, but also technically and professionally independent. We did not get help from anyone and did everything ourselves," the head of state said.
"Then intercity roads. This process was started and then expanded a great deal. A tunnel more than 11 kilometers long is being built from Goygol to Kalbajar. Because it is difficult to use this road in winter. A second 4-kilometer tunnel is being built between Kalbajar and Lachin. What will it give us? It will give us the opportunity to easily travel to Kalbajar from the direction of Goygol-Ganja, and we can solve all the issues both from the strategic point of view and from the point of view of the return of citizens there. The Barda-Aghdam highway is under construction. We are connecting Naftalan with Talish and Sugovushan. This will be very important both from a strategic point of view and from the point of view of tourism. Because Naftalan has now become an international tourist center, and the distance from there to Lake Sugovushan is very short. We intend to turn both that area and Aghdara into a tourist center, and at the same time, we must ensure that people return there. Other roads, such as the Fuzuli-Shusha road and the Zafar road, were built in one year. The second road is being built – the Fuzuli-Hadrut, Fuzuli-Jabrayil, Horadiz-Aghband, Zangilan-Gubadli-Lachin road, as well as additional roads in the direction of Lachin. I can't list them all because there are so many that it's hard to remember," President Ilham Aliyev said.
"Railways. We have already started the construction of the Barda-Aghdam railway. We have started the construction of the railway, which is a part of the Horadiz-Aghband-Zangazur corridor," the head of state said.
"The restoration of historical monuments. Notice how much work has been done in Shusha. At the same time, the foundations of Aghdam, Zangilan, Hadrut and Dashalti mosques have been laid and repairs have started. In other words, it would take a long time just to list everything. I try to pay attention to each project. Therefore, I visited the liberated lands many times in 2021, and along with these infrastructure projects, urban development projects will be implemented this year. We have now laid the foundations of schools and hospitals. The master plans of Aghdam and Fuzuli cities are ready. Agreements have been signed with relevant companies to develop master plans for other cities. We want everything to be done in a comprehensive manner – both quickly and, at the same time, not in a haste. Because everything must be comprehensive and the people who are about to return there must be provided with the best conditions. Because these people lived in difficult conditions for 30 years. It is true that many of them lived in beautiful apartments provided by the state, but they always lived with a longing for the homeland, a longing for their native land. We must create conditions for them to live comfortably from now on. Therefore, we should not waste any time but we should not do things in a haste either. Everything must be done in a comprehensive manner, all construction work must be carried out transparently and the basis of tenders. Special instructions have been given and maximum transparency must be ensured. If we face any unpleasant situations, our punishment will be very severe, and everyone should know that," Azerbaijani president said.
"Let me repeat that along with infrastructure projects, for example, the construction of a residential complex in Shusha has already begun, the foundation has been laid, and we will begin construction soon. Schools and hospitals in Aghdam, other places and villages. There are plans to put Aghali village into operation. So it is large-scale work, very large work – both from a technical point of view and in terms of financial capacity and responsibility. Because this is a very responsible job, so we must not make any mistakes here," the head of state said.