Today is Remembrance Day in Azerbaijan. All the people of Azerbaijan remember our Martyrs and those who have died during the 44-day Patriotic War, as well as during and after the first Karabakh war.

 

President of the International Eurasia Press Fund Umud Mirzayev also shared his views with EDNews.net on the date of the start of the Patriotic War on September 27, 2020.

 

"Today is a day of remembrance and a day of pride. It was a day we had been waiting for over years. We have always waited for that day. The peculiarity of September 27 for me is that the village of Ashagi Abdurrahmanli, where I was born and grew up, was liberated from the enemy on that day. As I mentioned earlier, we have waited for this day for years. Today it is the beginning of our victory.

 

When my father died on December 7, 2016, we wanted him to be buried in Fizuli, in our village that was half-occupied on the former line of contact. We buried him in the twilight, 150 meters from the old Armenian positions, in the territory of our village, so that the enemy would not see him then. Today, at the cost of the blood of our martyrs, those lands are free, our village is totally free from occupation. I can go to my father's grave at any time, but not at dusk.

 

On September 27, I was going to the region, to the front line. At about 11:00 in the morning, I received the news that our village had been liberated from occupation. Do you believe that it is very difficult to draw a picture of that day, to express what happened in words. People from villages and settlements along the road flocked to the roadsides. There was a large caravan of soldiers, as well as ammunition and equipment. People were wavin hands from the car, some were throwing cigarettes and some others throwing water. Everyone wanted to contribute.

 

On the same day, we moved in the direction of the frontline region of Tartar and Agdam with the staff of the International Eurasia Press Fund and our friends from Al Jazeera television. Of course, for 44 days we were in the throes of unexpressed, mixed feelings of sadness and joy. We were one of the first people to reach the city in the Ganja tragedy. We witnessed the events in Barda, Mingachevir or Goranboy, and the explosion of shells near us. Tartar was being bombed every day. We went to Tartar almost every day. We have a large regional office in Tartar. One of the most affected areas was our Tartar Regional Vocational Training Centre.

 

No matter how hard I try not to get excited or emotional when I say these words, I still have a tremor in me. Only a year has passed since that date. During this period, our people, our nation has proved what it is like to build roads, houses under construction or reconstruction, the airport under construction in Fizuli. But there are certain difficulties. I am sure our country will overcome these difficulties with dignity and in a short time Karabakh will be flourished from the beginning.

 

Numerous foreign journalists, diplomats and representatives of various international organisations have visited Karabakh over the past period. All these are important factors for understanding the scale of the disaster in the region and conveying it to the international community.

 

Our people are longing and excited to return to their homeland. Currently, the "Smart Village" pilot project, which covers three villages in Zangilan, is being implemented rapidly. We believe that the village will be a paradigm. Today, in parallel, large-scale construction work is being carried out in Agdam, Fizuli and Shusha. The pain and consequences of this war will last for many years, but the return to Karabakh, the creation of the initial possible infrastructure, is, of course, a nationwide affair. It seems that everyone is trying to support as much as possible, first of all, the President expressed his opinion on these issues, and the tasks to be performed by the agencies have been identified. We believe that the "Great Return", which will begin at the end of the year, will be completed in a very short time.

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