Azerbaijan's strength and unity: 2024’s defining moments Caliber.Az summarizes the year

As 2024 draws to a close, we can take stock of the year and touch on its most significant events.

The year has been eventful, but unfortunately, we were not spared from tragic incidents. On the eve of the upcoming 2025 year, Azerbaijan was struck by a tragedy. In the skies over Grozny, a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines was shot down by a Russian air defence system while intercepting a Ukrainian drone attack. 

In general, many details are already known; what remains now is for us to once again pay tribute to the heroic actions of the aircraft crew, who, in unimaginably difficult circumstances, saved almost half of the passengers at the cost of their own lives. This feat will forever be etched in the collective memory of the Azerbaijani people as an example of interethnic unity, as a benchmark of professionalism and courage. Azerbaijan lost some of its finest representatives, but it strengthened the faith in the power of our society. The political will demonstrated by the leadership of Azerbaijan in ensuring a fair evaluation and investigation of the incident reflects the unwavering status of the country's sovereignty.

In 2024, the process of restoring and repopulating the territories freed from occupation continued actively. Throughout the twelve months of the outgoing year, the sounds of hammers never ceased in Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Zangilan, Lachin, Shusha, Khankendi, and Khojaly. Working brigades did everything possible to accelerate the return of people longing for their homeland. And the process of the Great Return, of course, continued. The number of people living today in the liberated territories has reached 34,000. I urge you to reflect on this number – 34,000. 

It may seem insignificant compared to the figure of 700,000 people who were displaced from the occupied territories. However, the comparison should not be made with this number, nor with numbers in general, but with the chilling images of desolation and petrification that turned once-flourishing cities and villages of Karabakh and East Zangezur into during the period of occupation. 34,000 returnees in the four years after victory in what was once a desert – this is the foundation of our confidence that life will soon thrive in Karabakh and East Zangezur.

Among the settlements where the Great Return is taking place, special attention must be given to Khojaly, a city where Armenian fascists committed the most vile and bloody act of genocide in the entire history of the First Karabakh War, killing 613 civilians, including 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elderly people. As a result of counterterrorism measures on September 20, 2023, the Azerbaijani flag was raised in Khojaly, along with other cities. Then, on May 28, 2024, the first twenty families returned to the city. 

President Ilham Aliyev, along with his wife Mehriban Aliyeva, participated in the opening of the first residential complex built in Khojaly by the state's efforts. Aliyev congratulated the people of Khojaly on their return to their homeland. The president noted the symbolic nature of the fact that the first families were resettling in Khojaly on the 106th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the Azerbaijan Republic. The city, once a symbol of the weakness of state power, has now become an embodiment of its strength and dignity.

In the outgoing year, four villages in the Gazakh region were also returned – Baghanis-Ayrim, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli, and Gizilhajili. It should be reminded that Baghanis-Ayrim was the first Azerbaijani village to be subjected to occupation and genocide by Armenia. As a result of an attack by Armenian armed groups on the village on the night of March 23-24, 1990, 17 homes were burned, 11 were looted, and the population was forced to leave their homes and settle in various parts of the Gazakh region. The oldest of the burned villagers was a 75-year-old man, and the youngest was a 39-day-old infant. 

The return of Baghanis-Ayrim and other villages in the Gazakh region under Azerbaijan's control is the result of the confident and persistent policies of Azerbaijan's leadership. It should be noted that this did not occur due to the goodwill of the Armenian authorities or Prime Minister Pashinyan. The leadership of Armenia, although promising this within an appropriate timeframe, never fulfilled its promise, resorting to evasive tactics to sabotage its obligation. It was, in fact, the resolute will and principled stance of President Aliyev that forced Armenia to return these villages.

An important event marking the full restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty and the enhancement of its international standing was the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Azerbaijani territory. To complete the picture, it is also necessary to recall another event that took place eleven years ago. In 2012, the lease agreement for the Gabala Radar Station between Baku and Moscow was not extended, and in 2013, Russian military personnel were withdrawn from the station. We can proudly declare that there are no foreign military bases or contingents on Azerbaijani territory – a status that many countries around the world aspire to.

In the outgoing year, the strengthening of Azerbaijan's international relations also continued. On July 3, during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit held in Astana, as a result of negotiations between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, the Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the People's Republic of China was adopted. On the sidelines of the summit, a trilateral meeting was also held between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Pakistan, which elevated the relations between the three countries to a new level, envisaging greater coordination and strategic unity.

Touching upon the increased international standing of our country, it is impossible not to highlight a globally significant event, the holding of which in Baku is a vivid testament to Azerbaijan's enhanced international prestige. In November of the outgoing year, our capital hosted the most important climate forum on the planet – COP29, gathering over seventy thousand delegates from around the world under the roof of the Olympic Stadium. The high level of organization of the event, as well as the will and persistence demonstrated by the Azerbaijani side, led to the adoption of crucial decisions, which in turn allowed the results of COP29 to be termed the "Baku Breakthrough." Specifically, the conference adopted a document stipulating that the new collective quantitative goal for climate financing (the amount of assistance from wealthy countries to developing ones) will increase from the current $100 billion to at least $300 billion per year.

Finally, to conclude our review, we would like to highlight the following events: in the outgoing year, the extraordinary presidential and parliamentary elections took place in February and September, respectively. The elections on February 7 and September 1, 2024, were held across the entire territory of sovereign Azerbaijan for the first time in thirty years. Ilham Aliyev, the leader who guided the country to victory and played a key role in raising Azerbaijan's significance on the global political stage, was re-elected as President. We wish him good health and continued fruitful work for the benefit of our Homeland.