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Qabil Ashirov

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Today is the third anniversary of the end of the 44-day war - the shortest-ever war in the history of Azerbaijan, through which a nation liberated historical lands using the best military tactics, and the day Armenia signed the capitulation document.

Azerbaijani nationals consider this date as a rebirth of the nation. On this day Azerbaijani Army liberated most of its invaded territories that were under occupation for more than 30 years.

Thanks to this victory, IDPs, who had been expelled forcibly, were able to return to their hometowns and pay tribute to the graves of their beloved. Besides, As a result of this victory Azerbaijan was the first country to establish its territorial integrity and sovereignty among the former Soviet states that had territorial issues.

This victory will live as long as the world stands. During the war, the heroic armed forces of Azerbaijan defeated the illegal army of Armenian occupiers and separatist regime within 44 days and restored territorial integrity and sovereignty for the first time.

Adalat Verdiyev, an Azerbaijani military expert and a reserved officer said this in his interview with AZERNEWS. He noted that the 44-day Patriotic War is Azerbaijan’s glorious history.

The generation did not inherit this fateful problem for future generations by driving the enemy out of our territories. Thanks to the victory in the Patriotic War, the youth of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani army, and its supreme commander-in-chief became citizens of the victorious state, says Verdiyev. He says that with this victory, we also restored our honor and dignity. From today, the youth of Azerbaijan will continue their life in much safer conditions like the victorious youth.

For the first time, in this war, Azerbaijan was able to deliver a very crushing blow to the fundamental bases of international separatism and to present a substantial precedent in this direction for other countries as well. The military expert added that first of all, Azerbaijan revealed a road map for the fight against separatism, which did not exist until that time, and presented to the international community a plan of successive activities for the implementation of this road map.

“Of course, all this happened as a result of the decisive policy of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan used the most modern methods in this war. For the first time, we witnessed the widespread use of manned and unmanned aviation against the enemy. In addition, the Azerbaijani army widely used unmanned observation devices in order to regulate artillery fire. For the first time, the weapons of Turkiye, Belarus, Israel, and Western weapons were synthesized and conducted a fifth-generation war against the enemy,” Verdiyev noted as well as talking about Azerbaijan's army potential: "Azerbaijan's special forces played a paramount role in achieving victory. As an example of this, it is necessary to mention the Shusha operation. In this war, for the first time in world history, a fortress city protected by heavy artillery systems and armored vehicles in a high mountainous area was liberated by the heroic special forces with small arms and sometimes hand-to-hand combat, which was later widely investigated by many scientific and military centers of the world and the Shusha operation was ranked among the first unique military operations in the world in the international community."

The military expert, talking about the fighting prowess of the Azerbaijani army, noted that the Armenian side was seriously shaken, and as a result, many strategic heights came under the control of the Azerbaijani army.

“In the post-war period, the Azerbaijani armed forces continued without a break in their activities to achieve further victories. Sufficiently strict and adequate responses were given to the provocations committed by the separatist elements once illegally remained in Azerbaijan's Garabagh. The enemy suffered serious defeats both in the territories under the temporary control of the Russian contingent and on the conventional Azerbaijani-Armenian border. Starting from March 24 last year, the Azerbaijani army liberated Farrukh, Buzlugh, Sari Baba, Grkh Giz, Lachin district center and Zabukh villages, the heights between Jagazur and Zabukh villages, Allahyarli and Zaman Payasi villages in Garabagh from the enemy,” A.Verdiyev said.

He noted that on the border, Azerbaijan was able to remove the enemy from 11 strategic heights and 74 military positions with a decisive counter-operation in September last year in the areas from the Murov Heights to the Araz. Despite all this, the enemy did not stop its provocations. However, at the end of the day, on September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan forced the separatist organization that existed in Khankendi to sign the act of capitulation with anti-terrorist measures. He underscored that the signing of this act of capitulation resulted in the restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty. Later, of course, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan Republic raised the Azerbaijani flag in Khankendi city along with the Sarsang water reservoir in four more residential areas in Agdara, Khojavad, Khojali, and Asgaran for the first time in the history of Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan is looking forward to continuing its activities in the direction of strengthening the potential of the army and avoiding saving on military expenses. In order to increase the combat potential of the units and formations belonging to the armed forces of Azerbaijan, they continue training together with allied and friendly countries and take serious steps to improve the provision and supply of our army,” the military expert concluded.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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