Azerbaijan to commemorate Karabakh war martyrs on September 27
By Vafa Ismayilova
Azerbaijan will commemorate on September 27 all servicemen, who were martyred in the 44-day Second Karabakh War with Armenia that broke out in 2020.
As a sign of deep respect for the soldiers and officers who gave their lives for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, September 27 will be marked annually as the Day of Remembrance under President Ilham Aliyev's relevant decree.
On December 2, 2020, Aliyev signed the decree "On the establishment of the Day of Remembrance in the Republic of Azerbaijan".
In July, the Defence Ministry reported that 2,907 soldiers, who were martyred in the 44-day war, have been buried by July 14.
On this occasion, numerous events are planned on September 27.
On the Day of Remembrance in the country's religious temples – mosques, churches and synagogues – bright memory will be honored and prayers will be read for the repose of the souls of the sons of the Motherland who gave their lives for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the Organizing Committee noted.
The martyrs will be commemorated with a minute of silence across Azerbaijan at 1200 on September 27.
Azerbaijan's national flag will be projected on a number of buildings, including the Heydar Aliyev Center and the Flame Towers in the evening. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation's public association Regional Development will hold commemorative events.
The country's central and local executive authorities will organize a number of events on this occasion. Commemorative ceremonies will also be organized abroad.
September 27 marks the first anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020.
The war resumed between the two neighboring countries after Armenian troops deployed in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan started to shell the latter’s military positions and civilian settlements.
In the early hours of September 27, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev officially confirmed that the country launched an offensive in response to Armenia’s armed provocations.
The clashes started along the line of contact, which had been established in the aftermath of the First Karabakh War (1988-94).
Three ceasefires brokered by Russia, France, and the United States failed to stop the ongoing fighting that erupted on September 27.
The war ended on November 10, 2020, with the signing of a trilateral peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.
The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres and historic Shusha city. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.
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