Newsletters
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Karabakh on Sunday at the invitation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to mark Azerbaijan’s Victory Day, the sixth anniversary of the end of the 2020 Second Karabakh War.
President Erdogan and first lady Emine Erdogan were welcomed at Fuzuli International Airport by Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva.
The Turkish president is set to hold bilateral talks with Aliyev in Shusha, followed by a joint news conference, and to visit the Khojaly Genocide Memorial and the Khankendi Victory Monument before attending an official dinner.
He is accompanied by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli, intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, chief foreign policy adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic, ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairperson Kursad Zorlu and Binali Yildirim, chairperson of the Organization of Turkic States’ Council of Elders.
The visit comes weeks after Aliyev skipped the Organization of Turkic States summit in Ankara amid a rift between the two allies.
"I congratulate our friend and brother Azerbaijan on the 6th anniversary of Karabakh’s liberation from 30 years of occupation and on Victory Day, with all my heart. I remember with mercy all our martyrs who gave their blood and lives to secure this great victory and fell to the ground for their homeland," the Turkish president wrote on X.
"The 44-day Patriotic War is our glorious history. We are rightfully proud of this victory. The whole Azerbaijani people are proud. Future generations will also be proud," Aliyev said after laying a wreath at the Victory Monument in Khankendi.
"The enemy’s back was broken on the battlefield," he said, adding that more than 300 cities and villages were retaken during the war and Armenia was forced to sign what he called a capitulation act on the night of Nov. 9-10, 2020.
"Not a single person from the Azerbaijani army fled or deserted," Aliyev said, claiming that about 12,000 deserters were in the Armenian army according to Armenian leaders.
"I had said ‘Karabakh is Azerbaijan, exclamation mark.’ We put that exclamation mark here in Khankendi on Sept. 20, 2023," he said, referring to a one-day military operation in 2023.
"Now 97,000 people live, study and work in the liberated areas, and every month we witness former displaced people returning to their lands," Aliyev said, citing Azerbaijan’s Great Return Program.
First Lt. Javid Behbudov, awarded the title "Hero of the Patriotic War," told Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) that he fought from Murovdag to Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Shusha, mainly conducting reconnaissance behind enemy lines.
He lost his right leg below the knee after artillery fire near Krasny Bazar.
"Despite their wounds, soldiers gave themselves first aid, and some did not want to be evacuated from the battlefield. They said, ‘My wound is not that serious, I can keep fighting,'" Behbudov said.
"They almost saw leaving the front and not being able to help their comrades as a shame," he added.
"All my comrades are heroes," he said, adding, "Carrying this title is as difficult as it is honorable."
Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva said the victory symbolizes national unity while urging international organizations to cooperate on humanitarian issues including the fate of missing persons, the safe and dignified return of former displaced people and demining of the retaken areas.
Events including lectures, exhibitions, military band performances and concerts were held across Azerbaijan for Victory Day.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
6 min read
