BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 1. Now we are restoring our cities and villages. We started a program, which is called “Great Return”. We do it with our own resources, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said addressing the 31st Arab League Summit in Algiers, Trend reports.
"During the times of occupation, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs. Our people became the subject of ethnic cleansing. Armenia committed a genocide of Khojaly in 1992 which is now recognized by more than 10 countries. UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories but these resolutions were never materialized. And this leads to another important factor which is a mechanism of implementation of resolutions of Security Council. In some cases, resolutions of UN Security Council are being implemented within days, but in our case they remained on paper for almost thirty years. This is double standards, this is unacceptable. This is a selective approach to the norms and principles of international law and to obligations of the countries. Therefore, Azerbaijan as a country, which suffered from injustice and occupation, is actively working in order to contribute to the course of unification of approaches to conflicts. All the conflicts must be treated from the same position. There should not be double standards addressing the conflicts. Occupation must be called an occupation. Two years ago, Azerbaijan, as I said put an end to the conflict. We did it by force. We used our right for self-defense, which is provided by the Article 51 of the UN Charter, and we liberated our territory by force. We defeated Armenia. Armenia had to capitulate. And now our territories are free and we are back. And what we have seen as we returned. We have seen total devastation and destruction of territory, which is more than 10, 0000 square km. It is equal to the territory of some countries. Everything is destroyed-cities and villages, buildings, historical monuments graves of our ancestors. 65 out of 67 mosques have been completely destroyed by Armenia during the times occupation. This is a reflection of Islamafobic essence of terrorist Armenian state.
Now we are restoring our cities and villages. We started a program, which is called “Great Return”. We do it with our own resources. Unfortunately, international donor organizations don’t help us. We do it on our own. Today, visiting the Museum of Moudjahid, I was informed that during the French occupation France planted more than 5 million landmines. It just reminded me of the same, the same what we are suffering now. Armenia planted more than 1 million mines during the times of occupation and after the war ended in November 2020, we have more than 260 Azerbaijanis who have been killed or severely injured because of the landmines. We are doing it ourselves. We will restore our lands ourselves and we are already in the process. We see again solidarity from our brothers from member states, from the Arab League. We see support in international institutions and we are very grateful for that," the head of state said.