Chilean Senate delegation visits Shusha and Khankendi PHOTO

A delegation from the Senate of the National Congress of the Republic of Chile visited the Azerbaijani cities of Shusha and Khankendi on Saturday as part of their official trip to the country, the Milli Majlis Media and Public Relations Department told local media.

The senators began their visit in Khankendi, where they honoured the memory of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity with a minute of silence.

In Shusha, the delegation started its tour at the City Square. They were informed about how, during the years of occupation, Armenian forces desecrated cultural monuments by shooting at the statues of prominent Azerbaijani figures Khurshidbanu Natavan, Bulbul, and Uzeyir Hajibeyli that once stood there.

The senators then visited the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque, inspected the fortress walls of Shusha, and proceeded to Isa Bulaghi before climbing Jidir Duzu (Jidir Plain). At Jidir Duzu, they were told how, during the 44-day Patriotic War, Azerbaijani soldiers scaled the steep cliffs in a heroic operation that led to the liberation of Shusha at the cost of many lives. The site, they were informed, has once again become a venue for major cultural and public events, as it was before the occupation.

The visit continued in Khankendi, where the Chilean senators walked through Victory Square and observed the large-scale reconstruction and development projects underway in the city. 

Officials emphasised that life is steadily returning to normal across Azerbaijan’s liberated territories, with new settlements being built and restored.

Former internally displaced persons are returning to their ancestral lands, and more than 50,000 have already resettled, living, working, and receiving education there.

During their tour, the senators also met with mothers of martyrs, paying tribute to the sacrifices made by Azerbaijani families in the struggle to restore the country’s sovereignty.

By Tamilla Hasanova