Pakistan Reiterates Full Support for Azerbaijan on Victory Day of Brotherly Country

Tazeen Akhtar

Azerbaijanis world wide celebrated the Victory Day , 08 Nov with paying homage to the martyrs and tributes to the armed forces of their country. Pakistan has once again reiterated full support for Azerbaijan. In Pakistan, Mr. & Mrs. Khazar Nadir Oglu Farhadov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan hosted a reception at Serena Hotels Islamabad to celebrate the victory and liberation of Armenian occupied territories after 40 days of second Karabakh War. Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif was the chief guest. Minister for Defence Production Israr Tareen also attended the event.

Armenia’s Armed Forces launched a large scale aggression on  27 September 2020 that was countered and thwarted by  Azerbaijani army. It became a 40 days long war that ended on 8 November when Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev addressed the people of Azerbaijan from the Avenue of Martyrs following the liberation of Shusha.

The President Ilham in his address said,  “We achieved this historic victory on the battlefield. 8 November 2020 will remain forever in the history of Azerbaijan. This history will live forever. This is our glorious victory, our day of triumph! We achieved this victory on the battlefield, not at a negotiating table. I have said many times that, despite all statements to the contrary, there are military solutions to this conflict – the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and today we are proving it on the battlefield. After 28 years, the call to prayer will be heard again in Shusha. Without this unity, without national solidarity, we would never have been able to liberate our lands from the occupiers.”

At the reception in Islamabad, while addressing the participants, Ambassador Khazar Farhadov said, “Armenia kept Azerbaijani territories under illegal occupation almost 3 decades. Despite the decisions and resolutions of the leading international institutions, Armenia ignored all these decisions and resolutions and continued to illegally occupy almost 20 percent of our territory. During the times of occupation, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs. Our people became the subject of ethnic cleansing.”

“UN Security Council adopted 4 resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories but these resolutions were never implemented. 2 years ago, in 2020 under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, President Ilham Aliyev, our army liberated Azerbaijan’s territories from Armenian occupation and Armenia was forced to sign an act of capitulation, thus acknowledging Azerbaijan’s historic victory. Azerbaijan ensured its territorial integrity, and the fundamental rights of nearly one million displaced Azerbaijanis were restored” Ambassador continued.

Everything was razed into ground, cities and villages, buildings, historical monuments, 65 out of 67 mosques was destroyed by Armenia during the times of occupation. Even the graveyards were desecrated, destroyed, and looted.

Right after the liberation, Azerbaijan started large-scale restoration and reconstruction works in the liberated areas.

In 2021 and 2022, the Azerbaijani Government allocated nearly $3 billion to the large-scale reconstruction and restoration activities in the liberated lands. I would like to inform you that 2 international airports namely Fuzuli and Zangilan International Airports were built within very short period of time. We restore our lands. The Great Return program started by Government of Azerbaijan. First Azerbaijani IDPs have already returned to liberated Zangilan region’s Aghali village, which was rebuilt based on the “smart village” concept.

Ambassador mentioned about Pakistan’s support. He said,” Brotherly Pakistan from the first day of the former Karabakh conflict, as well as the during Patriotic War in 2020 morally and politically supported just position of Azerbaijan and it has been highly appreciated by the Government and people of Azerbaijan.”

Chief Guest Khawaja Asif congratulated the people and the President of Azerbaijan on the victory day. He reiterated the support of Pakistan for Azerbaijan. He appreciated the determination, the Azerbaijani nation have to save the territorial integrity of their motherland.