Azerbaijani realities beyond Armenia's selective memory Lachin's 30-year occupation coming to an end

Armenians who illegally settled in Azerbaijan's Lachin District and its villages 30 years ago have eight days to leave these territories. Under a trilateral deal signed by Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia in November 2020, Azerbaijan will reclaim Lachin city and some villages on August 25. Thus, Russian peacekeepers and Armenian settlers will leave the areas along the Lachin corridor, which includes Lachin, Zabukh and Sus villages that were temporarily placed under Russian control in accordance with the abovementioned agreement.

Despite warnings to Armenians leaving the district not to burn down their homes or harm the environment, images of some Armenians burning down their homes and nearby forests have circulated on social media. The Armenians, for whom Azerbaijan built a new alternative road to connect with Karabakh, chose another path - the path of destruction, barbarism, putting everything around to the fire.

Ongoing arson attacks and mine contamination

In a statement made on August 16, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva questioned Armenia's readiness for peace with Azerbaijan in view of the facts in question.

"Have a look [at] what's is left in Lachin city, Zabukh and Sus villages while the illegal Armenian settlers leave the area. Houses are devastated and burnt. Forests burnt, flora/fauna seriously damaged. Infrastructure facilities are destroyed. Is this how Armenia prepares for peace?!," she tweeted.

In addition to all this, landmines planted by the Armenian military were discovered on Lachin District's Saribaba mountain on August 16.

All mines found in this area were produced in Armenia after the ceasefire in 2021, thus clearly violating clauses of the ceasefire deal. To be more precise, 991 anti-personnel mines just in one day. Azerbaijan, which continues to seek peace with Armenia, has plenty of such territories, which will take decades to clear.

Selective memory

In light of these disgusting facts, there is something fundamentally disingenuous about the way Armenians talk about their planned exit from Lachin city, Sus and Zabukh villages. It is interesting that both the Armenian and Western media have been portraying Armenians being expelled from Lachin in a disadvantaged position. However, they are tightlipped over facts about how Armenians settled on these territories and who lived in these lands 30 years ago. It is not mentioned that there was no Armenian population there before the occupation and that Azerbaijanis were forced to leave their homeland.

It is quite strange that the nation, always promoting Armenia-related ancient "historic facts", now distracts attention from remembering the real facts about the forced expulsion of Azerbaijanis from their lands. To correct their selective memory, we would like to emphasise that video footage and photos shot 30 years ago by foreign and Azerbaijani citizens clearly show how they illegally entered and occupied Azerbaijani territory.

Armenia invaded, looted, burned and ethnically cleansed Lachin city and district in May 1992. Some 74,100 Lachin residents were forcibly expelled in a brutal ethnic cleansing policy by Armenians.

Looting, killing, destruction

During the occupation of Lachin, one of the executioners of the Azerbaijani people and the invader Christopher Ivanyan held an operational meeting with Armenian war criminals and told them how to properly use the tactics of "talan" [looting] to appropriate the property forcibly abandoned by the Azerbaijanis. It looks disgusting, but the video shows the essence of the Armenian war criminals well.

Back in December 2021, Azerbaijani MP Tural Ganjali posted a video on his Twitter, which portrayed Armenians celebrating the killing of Azerbaijanis in Lachin.

"Here is the video of the Armenian terrorist armed group of Sisakan and its terrorist commander Ashot Minasyan 'celebrating' the mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians (mostly women and children) when they invaded, destroyed and occupied Lachin city in May 1992," he wrote.

It is worth recalling the Armenian and foreign media outlets which are silent about Azerbaijani truths that 48 industries, 63 agricultural, 326 educational, 142 health, 460 commercial facilities and 30 communication hubs were destroyed. In all, damages to Lachin are estimated to be at $ 9.1 billion.

Moreover, two mosques, 45 bridges (roads, railways), 31 reservoirs, 34,000 hectares of forest areas, 584 km of main gas pipelines, 1,826 km of power lines, and 2,584 km of roads were destroyed.

After occupying Lachin in 1992, Armenians brought from Syria and Lebanon settled here in the years that followed. Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that it considers this to be a war crime and a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Unfortunately, the past 30 years did not change Armenians due to deep hatred toward Azerbaijanis and Turks. This is evident in videos shot with a 30-year difference.

"See the difference. 1992: Armenia loots and burns the houses of ethnically cleansed Azerbaijanis in the occupied town of Lachin. 2022: Azerbaijan builds a road via liberated district of Lachin for ethnic Armenians living in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region," Azerbaijani diplomat Nasimi Aghyaev wrote on his Twitter. 

"Armenians leaving the Azerbaijani city of Lachin continue to burn houses where they used to live illegally during the years of the Armenian occupation of the city. They don't even know how to leave the place with dignity! Barbarians!," TV anchor and journalist Anastasia Lavrina tweeted.

And after all this barbarism, they talk about their peacefulness, and ancient Armenian "humanity", while rejecting all Azerbaijani proposals for a peace treaty.

So Lachin's 30-year occupation is coming to an end. There are only ruins as far as the eye can see.

According to the preliminary estimates, the amount of material Armenian damages caused to Azerbaijan’s infrastructure, resources, and citizens in and around Karabakh totals $818 billion. The environmental crimes caused $285 billion in damages.

Azerbaijani leader's Lachin message  

Speaking to an Azerbaijani state television on the evacuation of Armenians from Lachin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently said he ordered the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons to contact the original inhabitants of Lachin, Zabukh and Sus and to start work to return them to their ancestral home.

He recalled that the presence of Armenians in the abovementioned areas is a war crime.

"The Armenians from Syria and Lebanon who had settled may not know this, but the Armenian leadership knows it perfectly well ... They are war criminals.," he said.

The president once again ruled out any status for Armenians in Karabakh.

"If someone in Karabakh still talks about some status or independence, be it for the sake of some populism or, as they say, because they are afraid of someone, one should know that they are the first enemy of the Armenian people because the Armenians living in Karabakh will have no status, no independence and no special privilege. They are the same as the citizens of Azerbaijan. Just as the rights of Azerbaijani citizens are protected, so are theirs. Just as the rights of the people living in Azerbaijan are protected, so are theirs. This is the only way," he added.

Despite all challenges, Azerbaijan is optimistic about the future. Azerbaijan is developing steadily and consistently, it will restore Lachin, Zabukh and Sus.