19 years since Armenian occupation of Azeri region
By Nigar Orujova
The history of the brutal Karabakh war, waged by Armenia and Azerbaijan at the end of the 20th century, has many dark pages. Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, accounting for 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, have been under Armenian occupation since the early 1990s war, which displaced up to a million Azerbaijanis from their homes.
Zangilan, an Azerbaijani region bordering Armenia in the west, was occupied by the neighboring country's armed forces on October 29, 1993.
Located 385 kilometers from the capital Baku, Zangilan was at the crossroads of many important highway routes and railways. In order to invade this region, which had a population of 37,600 people, Armenian forces committed unseen atrocities against civilians. As a result, over 200 people were killed, 12,800 children were injured and 395 children lost their parents. 44 people are still considered missing, while 127 people were disabled.
The Armenian occupation drove about 35,000 residents out of Zangilan, and they have since lived as refugees in Baku and other regions of the country.
Armenian troops occupied and destroyed the town's center and 81 villages, including over 900 social, economic, industrial and commercial facilities, as well as 142 catering outlets, 38 households, 255 social buildings, 43 schools and preschool institutions, a music school, 35 libraries, eight houses of culture, 23 clubs and 22 cinemas.
The region's economy was based on agriculture, which produced grains, tobacco, potatoes, berries, melons and watermelons. There were a winery, a canned food factory, a marble plant and a gravel plant there.
'Land of the rich'
Some theories suggest that Zangilan village, which served as the center among other settlements, is situated along the ancient Silk Road and known as "zangin alan". "Zangin" means "rich" and "alan" is a presently used Turkic word meaning "territory", which produces the expression "rich territory".
This territory is regarded as one of the early places of human settlement. Some caves of primitive men, historical monuments and coins discovered in different parts of the region back up this conclusion. Various objects found in the graves prove that this territory has ancient history.
Aftermath of brutal war
Zangilan sensed the consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 1990, when Armenians closed the railway and took its residents hostage.
Borderline villages of the region became an arena of battles in early 1992. Self-defense groups formed of local people who were armed with hunting guns had to fight an enemy that was supplied with weapons and machinery.
Armenians began continuous attacks on the region from the beginning of 1992.
By the end of 1992, Zangilan's 13 settlements and many of the strategic heights were captured by the enemy, which laid the ground for an entire occupation of the region.
The Armenians intensified their attacks in spring 1993.
In spite of strong resistance, the pressure increased as the enemy got additional forces involved in the fighting.
The region was besieged at the end of October after the occupation of Horadiz settlement. Zangilan was fully occupied on October 26, when Bartaz and Sigirt heights were seized.
Nearly 34,000 people had gathered at the Iranian border, but it was impossible to cross the fast-flowing Araz River. Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev then appealed to Iran to block the river so that the people could cross it. So, they moved to other parts of Azerbaijan via the territory of Iran and were settled in different regions of the country.
Total damage
Armenian armed forces violated international conventions, ignoring the rule of law, and committed unprecedented crimes while occupying Zangilan, annihilating people, including children, elderly persons, and women.
The financial damage to the region exceeded roughly $3.4 billion. The Armenians took over 11,000 houses, 150 vehicles, as well as hundreds of thousands of cattle heads.
There is also damage that cannot be estimated with mere calculations. Life under shelling inflicted serious damage to the health of Zangilan residents.
As many as 142 trade and 49 public catering facilities with 690 tons of food and industrial goods, 58 healthcare institutions, 128 cultural and 123 education facilities, two wine factories, as well as canned food factories, bakeries and construction plants were destroyed as a result of the Armenian occupation.
Important facilities left in the occupied territory include a hydro complex, 2,900-kilometer long power transmission lines and other equipment of state-owned energy producer Azerenergy; Minjivan railway junctions -- one of the biggest not just in the country but in the entire CIS; eight regional railway stations and railway lines extending for 140 kilometers.
Environmental damage
The Armenians considerably damaged the environment in this Azerbaijani region known for its unique flora and fauna.
The Azerbaijan Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has estimated the destructive effect of the Armenian occupation on the environment and natural resources in the occupied territories and established facts proving depletion of natural resources by the Armenians.
Valuable walnuts, planes and other trees of Zangilan Topmeshe forestry were felled by the Armenians and carried away as construction material.
Dirty waters poured by Armenia's Gajaran copper-molybdenum and Gafan copper-enrichment plants into the Oxcuchay River turned the river environment into a "dead zone", killing its micro-flora.
The Armenians committed disastrous arsons in juniper forests in Bartaz and Vecnali areas many times, burned down the administrative building there and cut down two hectares of plurannual walnuts, plane and pine trees around it.
Dasbashi and Leshkar forests were also burnt down and 55 hectares of 40-50-year walnuts, 350-400-year oaks in Top and Shukurataz forestry were felled and carried away.
Videotapes showed that plurannual evergreen trees and fruit trees were cut down in Alibayli village of the region, and wild trees and bushes replaced them in roadsides.
The Azerbaijani environment ministry said that prior to the occupation Zangilan region possessed 6.5 tons of gold and 3,000 tons of copper in Vecnali, 6,618 cubic meters of marble limestone, 129 million tons of limestone in Dashabashi-Asgurum field, 6,024 tons of road-metal, 28,943 cubic meters of porphyrite, 1,102 cubic meters of clay for brick and ceramic production, 17,367 cubic meters of sand and gravel.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994 following the brutal war, which claimed some 30,000 lives. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are brokering peace talks. Despite numerous rounds of negotiations, the peace process has been largely fruitless so far.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on a pullout from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.