Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

President Ilham Aliyev has said that the liberation of Azerbaijan's Sugovushan settlement from Armenia's occupation played a key role in the subsequent course of the 44-day war in 2020, Azertag has reported.

He made the remarks during his visit to Tartar region on October 3, where he raised the national flag in the Sugovushan settlement.

“The liberation of Sugovushan [on October 3] was of great strategic importance because the location of this settlement played an important role in the subsequent course of the war, and the fact that the settlement was in our hands gave us an advantage in our future operations,” he said.

Noting the liberation of both Talish village and Sugovushan settlement in Tartar region, which were liberated on the same day, Aliyev stated that the strategic importance of these villages is that a large enemy contingent was deployed there.

The president added that the liberation of these villages also provided Azerbaijan with control over the strategic roads in the region, and created major difficulties and restrictions for the movement and maneuvering of the enemy’s manpower.

“A large enemy contingent was stationed in the area of Talish village and Sugovushan settlement, and this contingent could not take part in other operations until the last day of the war. First of all, because the strategic roads were already under our control, and secondly, if the enemy had withdrawn its forces from here, the Azerbaijani army could have moved forward in this direction,” he added.

Aliyev added that another importance of Sugovushan settlement is that the Sugovushan reservoir is located there.

“This year, water was supplied to Tartar and other districts using the Sugovushan reservoir for the first time in 30 years. As a result of the liberation of this settlement, water has been supplied to 30,000 hectares of land that were not irrigated or were irrigated insufficiently before,” he highlighted.

Speaking about environmental and water terror committed by Armenia on those territories, the president added that more than 30 hydroelectric power stations in Kalbajar and Lachin regions were destroyed.

The president spoke about the restoration of the Sugovushan-1 and Sugovushan-2 hydropower plants. He underlined that very serious steps are being taken to implement infrastructure projects.

“Sugovushan settlement is of special importance in terms of providing this region with electricity and water,” the president added.

He added that another important aspect of the liberation of this settlement was the further strengthening of the country’s moral and psychological superiority.

On October 3, the president visited Tartar and Barda regions. As part of his visit, the head of state inaugurated the highways leading to Sugovushan settlement and Tartar’s Talish village. He also laid a foundation stone for the Talish-Tapgaragoyunlu-Gashalti-Naftalan highway.

The head of state raised the national flag in Talish village and Sugovushan settlement and visited the Albanian-Udi and orthodox churches destroyed by the Armenians in Talish village.

He also inaugurated the Sugovushan-1 and Sugovushan-2 small hydropower plants. President also inspected the house of a resident of the city, destroyed as a result of the Smerch missile attack by the Armenian armed forces during the Patriotic War, and viewed conditions created in the new house built instead of it.

In the center of the district, Aliyev inspected projectiles from various types of volley fire systems and from artillery installations fired by Armenian armed forces at the Tartar region.

In the Barda region, the president attended the opening of the Barda Vocational Lyceum.