Azernews.Az

By Akbar Mammadov

Twenty-seven years have passed since the occupation of Aghdam, once Azerbaijan’s richest city with the population of 50,000.

Armenian attack on Aghdam razed the city to the ground, turning it into the “ghost city”. Also called as “Hiroshimo” of the South Caucasus, Aghdam is a vivid example of Armenian aggression and vandalism.

Aghdam is one of the seven surrounding districts around Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan that were occupied by Armenian force in the early 1990s.

6,000 people were killed and over 126,000 others were expelled from their homes as a result of the occupation of a great part (846,7 sq km) of Aghdam district (total 1,150 km), that is comprised of Aghdam city and 80 villages.

The occupation also disabled 3,531 people and turned 1,871 children into orphans.

As a result of the ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia, out of 204,000 inhabitants of the district, more than 154,000 are scattered across Azerbaijan and live as IDPs.

Aghdam's historical and cultural buildings, schools, museums, houses were destroyed, and historical mosques of Aghdam, such as Juma, Khachindarbatli, were demolished and turned to cattle stables.

Today, Armenian occupying forces are using the district of Aghdam as a buffer zone.

The United Nations Security Council's resolution 853 demands the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from the district of Aghdam and all other recently occupied areas of Azerbaijan and reaffirmed UN Resolution 822. However, Armenia has still evaded fulfilling its obligations.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

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