BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 21.We are standing on these lands today at the cost of the lives and blood of our martyrs, thanks to the dedication of our heroic soldiers and officers, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said after raising the flag of Azerbaijan in the centre of the city of Lachin, Trend reports.
"I want to say again that the liberation of Lachin district and Lachin city from occupation is a historic event. The entire Patriotic War is our glorious history, but taking into account their strategic importance, the difficult terrain, the harsh and cold climate, the liberation of Lachin and Kalbajar districts is of particular importance. When Lachin and Kalbajar districts were occupied in the early 1990s, a geographical connection was established between Armenia and Karabakh. Lachin district was occupied on 18 May 1992 and Kalbajar district at the beginning of April 1993. Thus the Armenians achieved their dream. They believed that they would live in these lands forever. They believed that they could succeed. They saw that several countries that were patronizing them, that the organization directly dealing with these issues were turning a blind eye to their crimes. It seemed as though they were encouraged in what they were doing and became even more presumptuous. At the initial stage of the occupation, they destroyed all our settlements but then they felt that their crimes were going unpunished. So they started illegal construction, including the city of Lachin, as well as in the villages of Zabukh and Sus.
Let me also note that together with the city of Lachin, the villages of Zabukh and Sus were also liberated from the invaders on 26 August. So we should never forget all this history. We are standing on these lands today at the cost of the lives and blood of our martyrs, thanks to the dedication of our heroic soldiers and officers. No-one gave these lands to us, no-one returned these lands to us through negotiations. International organizations, including the UN, its Security Council, and the OSCE should have forced the occupying state to leave these lands. Sanctions should have been applied against Armenia. None of this happened. On the contrary, in order to perpetuate this occupation, Armenia, Armenians of the world and their patrons wanted to join forces and realize this ugly intention. I have always been saying that the people of Azerbaijan will never agree to this. I have always been saying that if the issue cannot be resolved peacefully, we will resolve it militarily, and we did exactly that. We defeated the Armenian army in a matter of 44 days. We have liberated Shusha, which was considered an impregnable fortress. We have liberated Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, Hadrut and Khojavandi on the battlefield. The enemy was brought to its knees and was forced to vacate Lachin, Kalbajar and Aghdam. While standing in the city of Lachin today, I feel rightly proud that our tricolor flag is flying on the ancient land of Azerbaijan," the head of state said.