Delegation from Organisation of Islamic States visits Aghdam

At the invitation of Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva, a delegation led by the Chairman of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) visited Aghdam on September 3.

The delegation includes the IPHRC Chairman Muhammad Laval Suleiman (Nigeria), Deputy Chairman Haji Ali Achikgul (Türkiye), Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Commission Nura Zayed Alrshud (Saudi Arabia), and Director of the Commission Secretariat Javed Saglain (Pakistan), and others.

Report's Karabakh bureau informs that the staff of the Ombudsman office and the delegation of the OIC-IPHRC visited the Giyasli cemetery during their visit to the Aghdam region. The guests were informed that the graves were vandalized during the Armenian occupation. The tombstones were ransacked. Later, the guests also visited the Garagaji village cemetery. Here, the guests were informed about the fact that the village is constantly under fire from Armenian armed forces, mainly targeting civilians and children. It was noted that thousands of graves were completely destroyed and destroyed in the cemetery during the occupation.

They also visited Aghdam Martyrs' Alley. The guests were told that hundreds of graves in the alley were opened and human remains were removed by Armenians during the occupation period. During the briefing, the guests were told that the graves in the Agdam Martyrs' Alley were restored by their relatives post-liberation, based on the photos and videos of that time.

At the end of their visit, the guests also visited the Aghdam Juma Mosque, which is being renovated. The guests were told that the Agdam Juma Mosque was one of the religious monuments that were vandalized by Armenians during the occupation. Here, as in other places, Armenians kept pigs and made the walls of the mosque useless. After Azerbaijan's appeal to international institutions, the mosque was saved from complete destruction. The members of the delegation of the OIC-IPHRC said that they would present the facts they saw here in their reports in front of international influential organizations.

Aghdam, located 362 kilometres west of the capital Baku, was the centre of the district of the same name and one of the major cities of heavy, light, and food industries, as well as agriculture of Azerbaijan until the district lost a larger part of its territory to the Armenian invasion. Armenian forces occupied a significant part of the Aghdam district, including the city of Aghdam and 89 villages, in the 1990s during the First Karabakh (Garabagh) War. About 6,000 residents of the district have been killed and 126,000 have been forcibly displaced. Only 10 villages of the district remained under Azerbaijan’s control.

Aghdam has been dubbed the “Hiroshima of Caucasus” by local and international media due to the scale of the destruction in the city. Armenians turned it into the largest “home depot on the planet” as they stripped all the buildings clean to use as building supplies. The city has also suffered a “mine terror” by the Armenian forces.

The occupation of Aghdam ended in 2020 following the 44-day bloody war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Shortly Aghdam's liberation, the Azerbaijani government launched a large-scale reconstruction project in Aghdam. Restoration efforts come as part of the ongoing massive reconstruction campaign in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Aghdam will reportedly regain its original view and see its residents back after the reconstruction.

As part of the reconstruction campaign, the government of Azerbaijan launched construction of the Aghdam Industrial Park in August 2022, on a territory measuring 190 hectares (470 acres). Twelve enterprises have already been granted residency status at the park. The priority areas of the park are the production of construction materials, packaging of agricultural products, canned fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products, production and processing of feed and fertilizers, as well as refrigeration, storage, and other services. Residents are expected to invest a total of nearly $35 million in the park.

According to Khazin Hidayatov, Head of the Economic Zones Development Agency of Azerbaijan, many residents have already started construction works within the Aghdam Industrial Park. In addition, non-residential status was granted to three companies.