AZƏRBAYCAN RESPUBLİKASI ELM VƏ TƏHSİL NAZİRLİYİ MİNİSTRY OF SCİENCE AND EDUCATİON OF THE REPUBLİC OF AZERBAİJAN
SƏRBƏST İŞ
MÖVZU: 44 day war KURS: I QRUP: TM-098 FƏNN: XARİCİ DİLDƏ İŞGÜZAR AKADEMİK KOMMUNİKASİYA KAFEDRA: HUMANİTAR FƏNNLƏR ÜZRƏ XARİCİ DİLLƏR MÜƏLLİM: GÜLNAR ABBASOVA TƏLƏBƏ: FİDAN SALMANOVA
BAKI-2022
44 day war On the morning of 27 September 2020, Armenia’s Armed Forces launched a large-scale attack, subjecting settlements and frontline positions of the Azerbaijani army to intensive fire from large-calibre weapons, mortars and artillery devices of various calibre, following which, in order to halt the Armenian army’s attack and ensure the security of the civilian population, the Azerbaijani army command decided to launch a rapid counter-offensive along the whole front. As a result of these clashes, martial law and a general mobilization were declared in Armenia. In Azerbaijan, martial law and a curfew were declared, with a partial mobilization being declared on 28 September. The clashes escalated rapidly into the Second Karabakh War.
Many countries and also the United Nations called for a cessation of hostilities, for both sides to reduce tensions and resume talks without delay. Afghanistan, Ukraine, Pakistan, Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus expressed support for Azerbaijan. On 29 September, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Although a humanitarian ceasefire, supported by Russia and mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, was accepted by both Armenia and Azerbaijan, with official effect from 10 October, terrorist violations by Armenia’s Armed Forces that targeted civilians led to the suspension of wounded and prisoner exchange.
Especially following the 1994 Bishkek Protocol signed with Armenia, Azerbaijan, which lost 20 percent of its territory as a result of the First Karabakh War, held long-term diplomatic talks with various international organizations. The purpose was to implement UN Security Council resolutions that demanded the unconditional withdrawal of occupying forces from Azerbaijani territory. The peace process was severely shaken by populist statements such as "Karabakh is Armenia, full stop", by Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power in Armenia after the colour revolution of 2018, as well as a succession of provocative and illegal visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and other actions.
In a continuation of those provocations, in March 2019, while on an official visit to the United States, Armenia’s Minister of Defence David Tonoyan announced a policy of "new war for new lands." Tonoyan's statement was accompanied by a series of military adventures on the line of contact. In July 2020, units of Armenia’s Armed Forces used artillery fire in an attempt to seize favourable positions on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border towards Tovuz, but were unsuccessful. On 23 July, the same forces announced the launch of joint air defence system exercises with Russia. Following them, Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces hosted forces from Turkey for a number of joint military exercises until early September. Meanwhile, in August, an Armenian military sabotage-reconnaissance group attempted sabotage in the Goranboy area of the line of contact, but was forced to retreat with losses and the capture of the group's commander, Senior Lieutenant Gurgin Alberyan.
In addition to direct military provocation, and in violation of international law, thousands of Lebanese Armenians, including a large number of YPG and PKK terrorists, were resettled in the occupied territories, following the explosion in the port of Beirut and this, too, exacerbated the conflict. Tensions peaked in late August 2020 when Anna Hakobyan, wife of Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan, publicized her participation in illegal military training in the occupied territories. However ineffective, these provocative actions and statements from Armenia have been assessed by researchers as a total negation of the negotiation process.
On 25 September 2020, Republic of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, in online debate at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, noted the deaths of Azerbaijani servicemen and a 76-year-old civilian, as well as serious damage to civil infrastructure; the results of Armenian attacks. Further, the president declared that more than a thousand tons of military equipment had been transported to Armenia by military cargo planes since 17 July. On 27 September, Hikmet Hajiyev, presidential aide and head of the Foreign Policy Department in the Presidential Administration, issued a statement that at around 06:00 there had been a gross violation of the ceasefire by Armenia’s Armed Forces. On the same day, Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces launched a counter-offensive to prevent further provocations and martial law was declared in the country.
n the battles that followed, Azerbaijan advanced rapidly and incurred very few losses. Initially liberating a number of villages and strategic bridges, its forces had liberated the whole of Karabakh’s southern border with Iran by 22 October and they then began moving towards the Lachin Corridor on 23 October. That corridor was the only relatively major highway connecting Armenia with the so-called Karabakh entity; control of it would prevent Armenia from replenishing fuel, ammunition and military reinforcements. Until then, Azerbaijan had put the Armenian army under daytime attack from conventional artillery, mortars and even direct fire and guided missiles to halt their military convoys. During the war, Jabrayil was liberated on 4 October, Fuzuli on 17 October, Zengilan on 20 October, Gubadli on 25 October and Shusha city on 8 November.
Details of the patriotic war have not yet been fully clarified, but it is safe to say that the operation to liberate Shusha from occupation will be forever in the annals of history. The crown, the beating heart of Karabakh - Shusha is a natural fortification, so it was impossible to enter the city with tanks or other heavy weaponry. There were two options to take it. Firstly, to defeat the enemy’s forces in the city by air strikes and artillery fire. Azerbaijan’s military command did not choose that way, due to the inevitably extensive destruction of the city that would result. The alternative was hand-to-hand combat, and this was the strategy adopted. Our heroic soldiers and officers traversed thick forests and deep ravines with light weapons, climbed rocks and mountains and defeated the enemy in face-to-face battle. A foreign journalist in Khankendi during the Shusha operation described the deplorable situation of the Armenians as follows: the defenders of Shusha were scattered. Dozens of wounded were taken in military ambulances to Khankendi hospital, covered in blood. The rest of the fighters, exhausted and throwing off their military uniforms, went down the mountain. Ambulances came and went non-stop. Wounded soldiers were piled on top of each other inside. Their injuries were evidence of hand-to-hand combat. Another report, published by Le Monde at the time, said that the defeated soldiers of the Armenian army left Shusha wounded and fled to Khankendi. On 8 November, the victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev gave our people the good news of Shusha’s liberation. The winning of Shusha, in fact, decided the fate of the war. The next day came news that more than 70 villages had been liberated, and one day later Prime Minister Pashinyan was forced to sign an act of capitulation, accepting the terms of the President of Azerbaijan.
On 10 November, the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Russia signed a statement declaring a complete ceasefire and end to all military operations in the conflict zone. According to the terms of the statement, Aghdam was liberated on 20 November, Kelbajar on 25 November, and Lachin on 1 December without a single shot being fired or single casualty. The statement also announced the planned construction of new transport communications connecting the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of the rest of Azerbaijan. Thus, Azerbaijan's military victory had forced Armenia to capitulate. The ceasefire was violated on 11 December - the first time since the end of military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh and the start of peacekeeping operations by the Russian Federation. The violation of the ceasefire was registered in Hadrut, where one Azerbaijani soldier was wounded.
References https://www.virtualkarabakh.az/en/post-item/52/2871/the-second-karabakh-war.html