What changed in two years since start of Second Karabakh War Timeline of main events from Sept. 27, 2020 to date

Exactly two years ago the attention of millions of Azerbaijanis locked on the then-occupied lands of Azerbaijan as the national army launched a large-scale counter-offensive operation to suppress the attack of the Armenian military and start the liberation of the country’s historical lands.

September 27, 2020, was the beginning of the end of 30-year-long pain and forcible separation. It ushered in the realization of the biggest dream of Azerbaijanis – to see their ancestral lands free from occupation and return to their homes. The outcomes of the Second Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan have brought dramatic changes to the socio-political life and the overall landscape of the regional geopolitics.

Caliber.Az presents the timeline of the main political-military events since the start of the Second Karabakh War:

September 27, 2020 – Armenia launched a full-fledged military campaign against Azerbaijan leading to the largest war in South Caucasus saw since 1994

October 4, 2020 – Azerbaijani army liberated the Jabrayil city

October 4, 8, 11 and 17 – Armenian forces launched ballistic missiles on Azerbaijan’s second-largest Ganja city, killing 27 and wounding 125 civilians

October 17, 2020 – Azerbaijani army liberated the Fuzuli city

October 20, 2020 – Zangilan city was liberated

October 25, 2020 – Gubadli city was liberated

October 27 and 28 – Armenian military killed 27 civilians and wounded more than 70 others in two consecutive missile attacks on Azerbaijan’s Barda city

November 8, 2020 – Azerbaijani army liberated Shusha city

November 10, 2020 – Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia signed a tripartite ceasefire statement. Under the document, Armenia agreed to return the Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan. Armenian authorities have also assumed to guarantee the safety of transport links between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan region, an Azerbaijani autonomous exclave in the southwest of the country. The connection between Nakhchivan and the Azerbaijani mainland should be enabled on an all-new route called Zangazur Corridor under the tripartite statement

November 20, 2020 – Aghdam was returned

November 25, 2020 – Kalbajar was returned

December 1, 2020 – Lachin was returned

January 11, 2021 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia signed the next trilateral statement in Moscow. The document called for the implementation of the issues contained in the agreement signed on November 10, 2020

June 15, 2021 – Azerbaijan and Türkiye signed the strategic “Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations”

July 7, 2021 – President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to establish the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions in the liberated lands

October 19, 2021 – an all-new “Commando” unit of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces was created in liberated Khojavand

November 16, 2021 – Azerbaijani army thwarted a large-scale border provocation of the Armenian military. Seven servicemen of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces lost their lives

November 26, 2021 – President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Sochi, Russia. Implementation of the tripartite statements from November 2020 and January 2021, opening all communications in the region, starting the delimitation process between the two countries, and normalizing relations based on the principles of international law were discussed at the meeting.

February 4, 2022 - President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and European Council President Charles Michel hold a video conference to discuss issues on the Armenia-Azerbaijan bilateral agenda, including a peace agreement and demarcation of borders

March 24, 2022 – Azerbaijani army took strategic positions in Khojaly’s Farrukh village, including the Dashbashi high ground and Saghsaghan mountain range as a result of suppressing the Armenian offensive. This allowed the Azerbaijani troops to cut visual control of the Armenian armed formations over Aghdam and nine villages in Karabakh, as well as establish a visual control over the Khankandi-Aghdara highway and Pirlar village in Khojaly

April 6, 2022 – President Aliyev and PM Pashinyan met in Brussels through the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel

May 22, 2022 - President Charles Michel hosted the next meeting between President Aliyev and PM Pashinyan

May 24, 2022 – the first meeting of the border demarcation commissions of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place on the state border

July 19, 2022 – the first group of former Azerbaijani IDPs was relocated to Agali smart village in Zangilan

August 31, 2022 –President Aliyev and PM Pashinyan were hosted by President Michel in Brussels in their fourth meeting to discuss the issues put on the agenda in the previous meetings, including the preparations for signing a peace treaty and expediting the work on demarcating borders

September 12-14, 2022 – Armenian military committed the next large-scale provocation on the border with Azerbaijan. An armed offensive was accompanied by sabotage attempts to plant landmines in the territories and supply routes controlled by the Azerbaijani army. The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan thwarted the attack, inflicting heavy manpower and equipment losses on the Armenian military. Eight servicemen of the Azerbaijani army lost their lives while suppressing the provocation