Azernews.Az

BAKU – Two valorous Azerbaijani servicemen killed while repelling Armenian attacks this year were laid to rest at a cemetery in Baku on Sunday.

Prior to Mubariz Ibrahimov and Farid Ahmadov’s funeral, held at the Alley of Honors and joined by thousands of citizens, a farewell ceremony attended by President Ilham Aliyev took place at a Defense Ministry center.

"I want to express my gratitude to our war victims’ parents for raising such worthy sons for our Motherland,"

President Aliyev said in his address. "The upbringing of patriotism they gave them has propelled Mubariz and Farid to the pinnacle of morale."

Warrant officer Ibrahimov’s father, Aghakarim Ibrahimov, told journalists that he was proud of his son’s having died for the sake of Azerbaijani land.

Ibrahimov, 22, perished after killing four Armenian soldiers and wounding four others in a clash in June on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. Ibrahimov was posthumously declared a National Hero by President Aliyev.

Senior Lieut. Farid Ahmadov, 24, was killed in the same part of the frontline in September while repelling another Armenian attack. President Aliyev signed a decree Sunday to award him a medal For Valor.

Armenia had long refused to hand over the two Azerbaijani servicemen’s bodies. But following the signing of a joint statement on exchanging prisoners of war and the bodies of soldiers by the two countries’ presidents with Russia’s mediation on October 27, Ibrahimov and Ahmadov’s bodies were repatriated on Saturday.

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s. Armenia still occupies part of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory. OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far and sporadic clashes on the frontline continue.