During a visit to the Dashkasan district on July 22, 2021, President Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to Azerbaijan Television. The head of state touched upon the restoration of Karabakh and Zangazur, the construction of Fuzuli (Fuzuli International Aiport was inaugurated on October 26, 2021) and other airports, the ongoing demining operations, the construction of hydroelectric power stations and 700 km-long road infrastructure. In his interview, President Aliyev also spoke about his meeting with European Council President Charles Michel on July 18.

A thought-provoking statement

President Aliyev voiced an interesting statement regarding Charles Michel’s visit to Azerbaijan: “Armenia’s disappointment will last long because, as we can see, they have not yet learned the lesson from the war. Some of their inappropriate statements and steps indicate that they still have a lesson to learn. They shouldn't forget the second Karabakh war. While in Yerevan, Charles Michel described the border territories as disputed. To be honest, I also disagree with this expression because we believe that these territories are ours. I believe that this is the territory of Zangazur, and Zangazur is the land of our ancestors, so we are in our own territory. Of course, this issue was discussed during the visit, and I tried to clarify that we had reached our border. Why did we reach it in May? Because the snow has melted. There was snow two or three meters thick. It was impossible to access the border. As soon as the snow melted, we went out, took the necessary points, settled there, strengthened and will strengthen our positions there. Therefore, Armenia’s disappointment is caused by the fact that they are still daydreaming, of course. They cannot come to terms with the post-war realities. I believe that the psychological factor also plays a role here. Apparently, they need some time to get used to the new realities from a psychological point of view, because our Victory smashed all their ideological foundations to smithereens.”

Questions

Although three months have passed since this statement was voiced, there are still following issues that make me think of it.

- What positions did we go out after the snow melted? When did it take place?

- In what area the “necessary points and the points we took” are located?

- What other positions are included in the list of territories we have taken, settled, strengthened and will strengthen?

- Could the resignation of several high-ranking Armenian officials in two weeks be related to Azerbaijan’s liberation of new positions?

Winter

The withdrawal of Armenian militants from the border areas of Azerbaijan started after the signing of the Trilateral Statement. Although there is no official information on the withdrawal of Armenian militants from about 100 villages in Gubadli and Zangilan, except for Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin districts, it is known that these processes were completed by the end of December 2020.

The Soyudlu Gold Field in Kalbajar was another important area liberated by the Azerbaijani Army. On November 26, the army took the control of 75 per cent of the field, belonging to Azerbaijan, following the evacuation of Kalbajar.

The first surprise for Armenians in 2021 was made in the Shurnukhu village of Gubadli. Armenians living in Shurnukh were given time until January 5 to evacuate Azerbaijani territories. During the demarcation process, the part of Shurnukhu village, which belongs to Azerbaijan in accordance with Soviet-era maps, came under the control of our army.

On February 4, the heroic Azerbaijani Army made Armenian Armed Forces withdraw from the Khinzirak and Dig villages of the Gubadli district.

Spring

Azerbaijan continued the restoration of the borders in the remaining lands in the spring. From May 10 to 12, when the snow melted, the Azerbaijani Army liberated the 3550-meter-high Ishigli height and the area around Lake Garagol in the Lachin district using two motorized infantry divisions.

The liberation of the Ishigli height enabled to observe the large areas of the Syunik region of Armenia along the Gorus-Gafan road. Lake Garagol is located on the eastern slope of this height at an altitude of 2666 meters. Currently, the Azerbaijani Army controls 90-95 per cent of this lake. The headwaters of four mountain rivers come from Ishigli height.

At the same time, the Ashagi Shorja and Yukhari Shorja villages, located on the border of Armenia with Kalbajar, came under the control of our army. I do not consider it accidental that the military has taken these steps on the birthday of National Leader Heydar Aliyev.

On May 14, the strengthening of the Azerbaijani Army in the new territories made local Armenian militants leave their positions and attempt to block the road from Armenia to Karabakh. As the police collected hunting rifles from Armenian communities living near the border before May 10, there were suspicions that the two sides reached the consensus to hand over the territory to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan's claims that he was aware of the process, confirmed the possibility of this consensus.

On May 17, the Azerbaijani Army took control of four more positions on the border with Armenia. Armenian sources claim that 15 hours of negotiations with the Azerbaijani side made it possible to liberate those four positions. Earlier, for several hours, Pashinyan tried to hold talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev through the Georgian Prime Minister but failed. On May 19, Azerbaijan refused to negotiate as the Armenian side did not comply with any of the requirements. A few hours later, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev made the remarkable statement stating that "The Zangazur corridor will be opened in any case, whether they like it or not."

Adequate measures taken by Azerbaijan in the occupied territories, especially in the face of the ongoing ceasefire violation by Armenians from the village of Arazdayan in the direction of Nakhchivan, resulted in Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan’s resignation on May 20. On May 27, newly appointed Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan also resigned. Certainly, it was directly related to clearance of our territories from Armenians by the Azerbaijan Army. Mayor of Garakilsa, on the opposite side of Kalbajar Gnel Sanosyan also resigned.

It would be more reasonable to describe these events as "the captain fleeing from the sinking ferry" rather than resignation. In other normal countries, these resignations should have been equated with desertion. Armenian armed forces withdrew from the new territories without fighting when Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Ara Ayvazyan were ministers. Vagharshak Harutyunyan threatened to fire on Azerbaijani civilians and Ara Ayvazyan ignored the ban on Armenian officials’ visit to Karabakh. 

No government representative related these resignations to Azerbaijan’s military successes.  

Summer 

Until the snow melted, our army cleared about 100 villages of Gubadli and Zangilan, Shurnukh, Khinzirak and Dig villages. After the snow melted, our Army restored our borders, advancing nearly 7 km in the direction of Garagol, up to half of it in the direction of Upper Shorzha, Lower Shorzha and Zarkand.

Armenian military expert Karen Vartanesyan also confirmed Azerbaijan’s advancement in three directions. 

Armenia's withdrawals were not limited there. Immediately after the completion of the joint air defense exercises of Azerbaijani and Turkish special forces in Lachin, on September 12, the Azerbaijani flag began to fly in the 3112-meter-high Gilincdagh (Upper Ukhtasar, near the Black Lake, Mikhtoken mountain range) near Garagol. Although the Armenian soldiers tried to show unarmed resistance until the special forces reached that height. However, when the "wolves" reached that area after 30 minutes, the enemy came to terms with their bitter fate and retreated. It was possible to fully observe our positions from the Garakilsa region of Armenia at that position. On October 5, the published images confirmed that 90-95 percent of Garagol was controlled by our Army.

In the newly liberated territories, the number of positions of our Army was three times more than the enemy. It aimed to prevent the enemy from being lost in "dark thoughts." There are real facts: The road to the Armenian position around Garagol passes through the Azerbaijani positions; the Armenians serving there pass the check at our positions even when going to their positions; they are allowed to move only with personal weapons, and others. Currently, it is not allowed to raise the flag of the enemy in the Armenian positions located here.

Autumn

The process has not yet ended.  Everyone is looking forward to the liberation of 7 villages of Gazakh, 1 village of Nakhchivan and the territories controlled by Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh. Our servicemen are fully ready to perform any task. It does not seem that Azerbaijan will wait for the next "snowmelt", because the 2-meter snow cover of Lachin and Kalbajar mountains in the above-mentioned 8 villages is not an expected situation. In this case, the choice falls on Armenia.

The satellite images on collection of military equipment and heavy guns by the separatist regime in Dashkend region of Khojaly on October 27 indicate that some Armenian leaders have not taken their lessons from the results of the Patriotic War. Those people must not forget that “Armenia will agree with demarcation of borders, withdrawal of armed forces and armament from Azerbaijani territories and recognize our borders. Like it or lump it, Armenia will recognize...” 

Adalat Verdiyev,  

Military Expert 

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