"Today, the flag of Azerbaijan is waving in Lachin, it is a happy day for us, we expelled the Armenian separatists from our ancient lands with an "iron fist". Lachin Corridor also serves as a bridge between Karabakh and Zangezur. In the negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, Armenia, in exchange for the return of 5 surrounding regions to Azerbaijan, demanded that the Lachin corridor be given a status equal to the status of Karabakh and that it remain under the control of Armenia, which caused the process to be prolonged for years."
Ednews reports that the President of the International Eurasia Press Fund and Deputy Chairman of the Press Council, Umud Mirzayev, said these words during the event held at the Social Research Center on "Lachin and Lachin's Way: Strategic Vector of Victory in the Patriotic War."
He also said that one of the conditions of the tripartite agreement reached as a result of the end of the 44-day Patriotic War was the replacement of the Lachin corridor with a new road.
"According to Article 4 of the Trilateral Declaration, the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation should have been deployed in parallel with the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces.
Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, said in his interview on July 19 that the withdrawal of units belonging to the armed forces of Armenia from Karabakh will be completed in September of this year. This statement shows that Armenia is still illegally keeping its armed military units in the territory of the neighboring state.
He also noted that "the terrorist act of sabotage committed by the illegal Armenian armed forces on August 3 was prevented as a result of the "Revenge" operation carried out by the Azerbaijani Army, the largest territories and strategic heights came under our control. Herein, the implementation of the task given by President Ilham Aliyev to prepare the return of our compatriots to their native lands has begun. Those are who were forcibly displaced from the city of Lachin 30 years ago and temporarily settled in different parts of our republic. The withdrawal of the enemy from Zabukh and Sus, the handing over of Lachin to our own people makes the repatriation of our citizens to those areas a reality."
Stating that Armenians have been living in the occupied territories of Lachin for many years, Umud Mirzayev also drew attention to the fact that most of them had been relocated from Lebanon and Syria.
"As you can see, Armenians have been conducting illegal settlement policy here for 30 years. With the cancellation of the Lachin corridor, the entry and exit to Karabakh comes under the full control of Azerbaijan. Armenians will now be able to go to Karabakh not through the corridor, but by road. Currently, approximately 10 thousand Armenians live in the mountainous part of Karabakh. Armenians living in Khankendi and Agdara should understand that if they do not choose the right path, the same fate awaits them."
According to the president of IEPF, after the tripartite declaration, the Armenians, who were not satisfied with destroying forests, houses, historical and cultural monuments while leaving Kalbajar and other territories, are now deliberately damaging the environment by burning our forests the territory of Lachin. The worst thing is that the Armenians are polluting the ground with mines.
"Imagine, 10 mines are buried in 1 sq meter area. This is a crime against humanity. If you think about it, it shows that most of the mines discovered in Lachin dates to production year in 2021. As a visual proof that Armenians are still burying landmines on Azerbaijani lands, we can show that two of our military servicemen were hit by landmines on the territory of Lachin region on August 20 and 21."
The president of the International Eurasia Press Fund said that as a result of the joint research conducted by his organisation and ANAMA, during the period from 1991 to the Patriotic War, about 3,000 victims of landmines have been registered.
"More than 230 people have been injured killed altogether as a result of the mine explosion. Mines discovered en masse around the recently liberated height show that there are seriously mined areas in different directions in the territory of Lachin. There have been many landmine incidents in the direction of Gülabird village of Shusha, Lachin so far.
Today, the biggest problem in the lands liberated from occupation is the mine problem. In this regard, IEPF organised a visit to the region with Heidi Kühn, the founder and CEO of "Roots of Peace" and Vugar Suleymanov, the Chairman of the Azerbaijan National Agency of Mine Action (ANAMA). During the visit, H. Kühn said that she was horrified by the mine fields she saw in Karabakh.
U.Mirzayev noted that in general, even after the end of the Patriotic War, mine explosions in the region did not stop.
"Immediately after the 44-day Patriotic War, we visited the liberated territories with a number of non-governmental organizations and witnessed the atrocities committed by Armenians with our own eyes. The International Eurasia Press Fund has been cooperating with ANAMA for many years. This cooperation allows us to understand and investigate the scale of this problem. In this regard, we launched a petition and managed to get more than 20,000 people to sign this document. However, unfortunately, the mine maps given by the Armenians to the Azerbaijani side reflect no truth. In this sense, mass burying of landmines in the territory of Lachin is not a news for us."
He noted with great regret that the Armenians who left Lachin region tried to destroy the houses and forests by arsoning.
"Because they know very well that neither the land nor the property belonged to them. Armenians also tear down their own graves. I would like special attention to be paid to this issue. Given what they did to our graves, they think that Azerbaijanis will do the same. I would like to call out to the Armenians and inform them that the people of Azerbaijan have never committed such vandalism against cemeteries."
In the end, U.Mirzayev noted that at the event organized at the office of the International Eurasia Press Fund on August 17, environmental-oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Azerbaijan reported to make an appeal to international organizations about the environmental terrorism committed by Armenians illegally residing in Azerbaijan in Lachin and surrounding areas.
"Azerbaijan will not turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of Armenia on its lands, and will continue the policy of ensuring sustainable peace in the region," he added.
Translated by Elnur Enveroglu, Editor at Ednews.net
