Azerbaijani analyst: Post-1994 destruction of Lachin, Kalbajar was systematic

Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the board of the Centre of Analysis of International Relations, said the cities of Lachin and Kalbajar were systematically destroyed following the 1994 ceasefire in an effort to prevent displaced Azerbaijanis from returning to their homes.

Speaking at the event “The Path from Urbicide to Post-Conflict Reconstruction” during the 13th session of the World Urban Forum 13 (WUF13), Shafiyev said the destruction went beyond ordinary wartime damage and amounted to what he described as “urbicide”, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

According to him, urbicide differs from conventional military destruction through ethnic cleansing and the deliberate eradication of a settlement’s cultural identity.

Shafiyev stated that many settlements in the Lachin and Kalbajar districts were systematically destroyed after the ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994.

“The reason is clear: to prevent the Azerbaijani population from returning to their native homes,” he said.

He added that large-scale destruction in central Lachin was comparatively less severe due to Armenia’s attempts to alter the demographic situation through what he described as the illegal settlement of occupied territories.

However, he said, the surrounding villages in the Lachin and Kalbajar districts, along with other settlements, were completely destroyed.

By Aghakazim Guliyev