Nine years since the April battles: Azerbaijan’s triumph remembered

Nine years have passed since the start of the glorious April battles.

As Caliber.Az recalls, during a lightning-fast counteroffensive operation conducted along the frontline on April 2, 2016, in response to provocations by the Armenian armed forces that began in late March, the Azerbaijani army inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy. The Armenian side had intended to teach Azerbaijan a lesson, but the outcome was the opposite.

On the night of April 1–2, 2016, and throughout the following day, all Azerbaijani border positions and settlements came under intense artillery shelling by the Armenian armed forces. As a result of the shelling of Azerbaijani settlements near the line of contact, six civilians, including two children under the age of 16, were killed, and 26 people were seriously wounded.

The attacks also caused significant damage to numerous public and private properties, including civilian infrastructure. A total of 232 private residential houses were destroyed, along with 99 electricity poles, three power substations, and several kilometers of water and gas pipelines. The Armenian armed forces launched missile strikes on social facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship. One of the mosques was hit by heavy artillery shells during a prayer service.

In order to suppress the Armenian provocation and ensure the safety of the civilian population, the command of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces decided to take urgent retaliatory measures in the directions of Aghdara–Tartar–Aghdam and Khojavand–Fuzuli.

As a result of the four-day military operation, more than 2,000 hectares of occupied land in the Fuzuli, Jabrayil, and Aghdara districts were liberated. Additionally, thousands of hectares of other territories came under the full control of the Azerbaijani army.

The mythical "Ohanyan defense line" was destroyed by Azerbaijan’s victorious army in just 20 minutes. During the April battles, Azerbaijan deployed the most advanced weaponry, striking fear into Armenia, particularly with the use of Harop kamikaze drones and the TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, known as the "weapon from hell."

The Azerbaijani army liberated several key strategic heights, including Lalatapa and Talish. The liberation of Lalatapa, which provided control over a vast area, ensured the security of the Jojug Marjanly settlement in the Jabrayil district and the city of Horadiz in the Fuzuli district.

As a result of the Azerbaijani army’s devastating strikes, more than 30 tanks, 25 artillery systems, and other enemy military equipment were destroyed. Additionally, 320 Armenian servicemen were killed, and over a thousand were wounded. Control was established over several key roads leading to the Gulustan village in the Goranboy district and the Sugovushan settlement (then known as Madagiz) in the Tartar district.

Military operations ceased on April 5 in accordance with the Moscow agreement between the chiefs of the General Staffs of the Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces.

The four-day April battles marked the beginning of Azerbaijan’s path to the Great Victory and played a decisive role in the liberation of the remaining occupied territories.

On September 27, 2020, in response to yet another Armenian provocation, the Patriotic War began. Under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijani lands that had been under Armenian occupation for nearly 30 years were liberated. Over the course of 44 days, five cities, four settlements, and 286 villages were freed, including the city of Jabrayil and 90 villages of the district, the city of Fuzuli and 53 villages of the district, the city of Zangilan, the settlements of Minjivan, Aghband, and Bartaz along with 52 villages of the district, the settlement of Hadrut and 35 villages of the Khojavand district, three villages of the Tartar district, the city of Gubadli and 41 villages of the district, nine villages of the Khojaly district, the city of Shusha, three villages of the Lachin district, several strategic heights in the Aghdara and Murovdag directions, as well as the Bartaz, Sigirt, and Shukurataz heights, along with five unnamed heights in Zangilan.

The joyous news of the liberation of Azerbaijan’s lands from occupation was delivered to the nation by the Head of State, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev.

On 10 November, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia, along with the Prime Minister of Armenia, signed a statement on the complete cessation of hostilities and all military actions in the conflict zone. This document symbolised Armenia’s capitulation, as it was unable to counter the Azerbaijani army on the battlefield.

In accordance with the trilateral statement, the Aghdam district was returned to Azerbaijan on 20 November, the Kalbajar district on 25 November, and the Lachin district on 1 December 2020—without a single shot being fired. Thus, Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity was restored, and the long-standing Karabakh conflict became a thing of the past.

In March 2022, Farrukh Mountain and the settlement of the same name were liberated. On 3 August 2022, as part of the Azerbaijani army’s retaliatory operation Revenge, the Girkhgiz and Saribaba heights, along with several other key strategic positions along the Karabakh ridge of the Lesser Caucasus, were brought under control. Following this, Buzdukh Mountain and its surrounding heights also came under Azerbaijani control.

At the end of August that same year, control was restored over the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabukh and Sus. In March 2023, military measures were undertaken on the Khankendi–Khalfali–Turshsu road and the Khankendi–Kosalar–Mirzalar–Turshsu road, which runs north of this route. Following this, several commanding heights, primary and secondary roads, as well as a vast border area between the villages of Jagazur and Zabukh in the Lachin district, were brought under control.

Thanks to the localised anti-terror measures carried out by the Azerbaijani army on 19 September 2023, the remaining territories—where the Russian peacekeeping contingent had been temporarily stationed—came under Azerbaijan’s full control.

On 15 October 2023, President Ilham Aliyev raised the national flag in the city of Khankendi, symbolising the complete and final restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.