For almost 30 years, Azerbaijan tried to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict through negotiations with Armenia, which had occupied 20 percent of its territory. The talks yielded no results. On the contrary, it was clear that the Armenian side was simply trying to gain time, to consolidate the status quo, to perpetuate it. Azerbaijan could not and did not come to terms with the occupation.
Over the said period, due to his foresight and wisdom, national leader Heydar Aliyev did tremendous work for the comprehensive development of Azerbaijan and for the solidifying its political and economic independence.
All these factors fully conditioned the absolute victory of Azerbaijan and made it only a matter of time.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly called on Armenia to return the occupied territories, but Armenia not only ignored those calls, but also felt encouraged to occupy more of Azerbaijan’s lands and opted, instead, for a series of military provocations.
By torpedoing the format and subject matter of the negotiations, by creating a semblance of negotiations, by not implementing the UN Security Council resolutions and decisions, Armenia explicitly showed that it was not in favor of peace.
Over the said period, Azerbaijan has significantly strengthened its standing as a reliable partner, enhanced the country’s reputation and turned its determination into the crucial factor in the region through the implementation of multifaceted, principled and authentic foreign policy, active engagement with international organizations and foreign countries and forging close relations, as well as implementation of regional energy and communication projects.
President Ilham Aliyev clearly describes this period: “Indeed, they refer to Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state. They then published new maps and began to attribute all the adjacent districts to Nagorno-Karabakh. Our towns and villages were renamed, and finally we were threatened with a new war for new territories. This was stated by their defense minister named Tonoyan. He announced that Armenia was preparing for a new war for new territories.”
In July 2020, Armenia committed another military provocation in the direction of Tovuz on the state border with Azerbaijan. The purpose of the provocation was to create a new source of tension in the region, to put the issue of occupation of Azerbaijani territories on the backburner, to involve third countries in the conflict and to cause damage to Azerbaijan’s strategic infrastructure. The Azerbaijani Army responded with a crushing blow to the enemy.
In August 2020, Armenia resorted to yet another military provocation by sending a sabotage group to Azerbaijan to commit acts of terror. However, the Azerbaijani Army foiled this subversive plan too.
Thus, the military-political leadership of Armenia did not learn the lesson from the battles of April 2016 and the battles of July 2020, and continued to aggravate the situation.
On 27 September 2020, a counter-offensive was launched in response to Armenia’s yet another large-scale military attack on Azerbaijani Army positions and civilian settlements. The counter-offensive later became known as Operation Iron Fist that led to the Patriotic War.
In his second address to the nation on 4 October 2020, President Ilham Aliyev showed the enemy its place: “Now we have shown who is who… We are carrying out our salvation mission and we will do it!”
In his third address to the nation on 9 October 2020, the President of Azerbaijan declared that the status quo no longer existed and the line of contact had been smashed. “I have changed the status quo. I have changed it! Right there, on the battlefield. There is no status quo any more. There is no line of contact, it doesn’t exist. We have broken through it. They had been building this line of contact for 30 years. No-one can withstand the Azerbaijani soldiers.”
8 November 2020 is inscribed in the history of Azerbaijan as Victory Day in golden letters. President Ilham Aliyev made his seventh address to the nation from the Alley of Martyrs and announced the liberation of Shusha to the people of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis all over the world. “I have also visited the grave of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev today and paid a tribute of respect to him. I said in my heart that I was a fortunate person to have fulfilled a father’s will. We have liberated Shusha! This is a great victory! The souls of our martyrs and the Great Leader are rejoicing today! May you rejoice Azerbaijan! May you rejoice Azerbaijanis of the world! … The people of Azerbaijan are united like this fist today! This will always be the case! This unity will last forever! This unity will help us to accomplish all our goals in the future… Dear Shusha, you are free! Dear Shusha, we have returned! Dear Shusha, we will revive you!”
The President of Azerbaijan said that the outcome of the war was the best example to understand the difference between Azerbaijan and Armenia: “Did we have a single deserter? We didn’t! Not a single person! That is the people of Azerbaijan! Civilians lost their homes, their property, their loved ones, but were still saying “Long live the Motherland.” Charge, only charge! The letters to me say, “Supreme Commanderin-Chief, charge! We support you, charge, don’t stop, so I charged, I didn’t stop.”
Thus, Azerbaijan’s lands that were gradually occupied by Armenian military units over the course of four years and remained under occupation for about 30 years were liberated in a matter of 44 days regardless of strong military fortifications, obstacles and lines of defense. The territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan has been restored and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has been consigned to history.
Azerbaijan won a brilliant victory in the Patriotic War, defeated Armenia and put an end to the occupation. Every single day of these 44 days was a glorious history for Azerbaijan.
