Foreign diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan visit liberated Kalbajar district ... to see outcomes of Armenian vandalism

Representatives of foreign diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan embarked on a visit to the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan on May 31.

More than 80 diplomats and military attachés from over 50 countries and 10 international organizations travelled to the region that was liberated from the Armenian occupation in 2020.

The purpose of the visit is to set the grounds for the diplomats to get acquainted with the outcomes of the Armenian vandalism in the Azerbaijani lands during the years of occupation, according to Report.

The ongoing visit is the ninth of the kind attended by the foreign diplomatic missions operating in Azerbaijan.

Armenia's troops occupied Kalbajar on April 2 in 1993 during the first Armenia-Azerbaijan war in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in 1991-1994. Over 54,000 residents of Kalbajar have been forcibly displaced from the region in the wake of a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign that followed the occupation. Armenia's forces killed 511 and took 321 as hostages in the district. Currently, the IDPs from Kalbajar are living in 707 settlements located in 56 different regions of Azerbaijan.

Kalbajar's liberation came as part of Armenia's obligations it took under the tripartite ceasefire statement signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia on November 9. The document ceased the 44-day-long hostilities kicked off on September 27 in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and obliged Armenia to return the occupied Azerbaijani districts, including Kalbajar and Lachin, as well as the occupied parts of the Aghdam district, all of which are internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan restored its sovereignty in the largest district in terms of area in the Karabakh region on November 25, 2020. Kalbajar returned to Azerbaijan’s control after the country’s victory over Armenia in the 44-day war two years ago and signing of a tripartite ceasefire statement with Russia and Armenia. The document obliged Armenia to withdraw its forces from three Azerbaijani districts, one of which was Kalbajar.