A Chronicle of Victory

When I was standing in front of the destroyed mausoleum of brilliant Azerbaijani poet and outstanding statesman Mullah Panah Vagif recently, I recalled the events in Shusha of 1982. Great leader Heydar Aliyev came to the opening of the festival dedicated to the poet. There were also writers, poets, historians, literary critics and admirers of Vagif's talent attending the event. People recalled the poet, who was a prominent political figure of his time, regretted his tragic death. And there was no division between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. It never occurred to anyone that only a few years later separatism would raise its head in Karabakh and Armenia would unleash aggression against Azerbaijan, that more than a million Azerbaijanis would be deported from Armenia and Armenian-occupied Karabakh, that hundreds of people would be brutally killed and thousands subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide, their houses would be destroyed, historical sites would be demolished, mosques and cemeteries would be desecrated. Such barbarism, which lasted almost 30 years, is  a rare occurrence around the world. Karabakh is an inalienable part of Azerbaijan. In 1805, Ibrahimkhalil Khan of Karabakh signed the Kurekchay Treaty with Russian general Tsitsianov, according to which the Karabakh khanate of Azerbaijan as an independent state was transferred under the control of the Russian Empire. There is not a word about the Armenian population in it. Armenian settlers from Iran and Eastern Anatolia appeared there only two decades later. The Azerbaijanis received them with all sincerity and warmth, gave them shelter. But time passed and the guests began to behave like hosts. Chauvinist sentiments fuelled by Armenian bigots in the early 20th century led to massacres and pogroms in 1905, genocide and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in 1918, deportation of Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR in 1948, and, finally, deportation of Azerbaijan's in 1988 and the occupation by Armenia of 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory in the early 1990s. The number of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons exceeds one million people. In 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions  reaffirming Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and demanding a withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories. Although all international organisations supported these demands for 28 years, Armenia ignored them, did everything it could to slow down the process of negotiations, disseminated fakes about these lands belonging to it. Ours was a just war, a war of liberation. We had to respond to yet another provocation by Armenia. Because historically and according to international law, justice was on our side and we secured the victory thanks to the strength and determination of our people, the unity between the government, people and the army. The world should see what Armenian invaders have done to our lands. And Armenian leaders should be held accountable for this. Of course, we will restore our lands devastated by the enemy and turn them into a prosperous region. The liberated lands will become a symbol of a united and new Azerbaijan. Karabakh is Azerbaijan! And we are back for good!