Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

May 18 will mark the 25th anniversary of occupation of the Lachin region, an important Azerbaijani strategic settlement, by the Armenian armed forces.

Lachin, considered a fortress gate for Azerbaijan, was seized by the Armenian armed forces on May 18, 1992.

The Lachin region included 121 villages with a total area of 1,835 square km. More than 300 military men and civilians were killed or went missing during Lachin's occupation, and 103 people were wounded or disabled. 18 Azerbaijani children were killed, 225 were injured, and 31 lost both parents. Some 63,341 Azerbaijani citizens were driven out of their homes as a result of the occupation.

The Armenian invaders destroyed hundreds cultural facilities and dozens settlements, villages and historical monuments.

Azerbaijan Carpet Museum will host an event devoted to the 25th anniversary of occupation of Lachin region on May 16.

The event entitled "Lachin, what's left of you" is supported by the Shusha Branch of Azerbaijan Carpet Museum.

The head of department for cultural institutions and folk art at Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism ,Fikrat Babayev, the director of Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, Chairman of the ICOM Azerbaijan, Shirin Melikova, the head of the Social Studies department at Azerbaijan Technical University, Shikar Gasimov, director of Lachin Museum of History and Geography Turkana Nuruyeva, Chairman of the public association on Protection of historical and cultural monuments in the occupied territories, Faig Ismailov will speak at the conference.

The winner of "International mugham contest 2011" Ehtiram Huseynov and Elshad Abbas will perform at the event.

The video about Lachin region will be also presented to the guests.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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