OCCUPATION OF AGHDAM

From CBC Azerbaijan

Agdam is the land of poetry and talents, the land where thousands of monuments of architecture, culture and history of Azerbaijan were located. Today, most of them are partially or completely destroyed by Armenian nationalists, and they are destroyed with particular cruelty.

The people, who do not have their own culture and live on foreign lands, hastened to destroy everything that testifies to the greatness and antiquity of another people. And as a result: today Aghdam is called a "ghost town".

Heavy military equipment was used during the occupation of Aghdam. But residents of Aghdam were not going to surrender without a fight. Residents heroically defended their native lands, created detachments of volunteers. Hundreds of people, without the necessary armament, resisted the Armenian troops.

“At the very beginning of the war, we created a volunteer battalion of Khidirli. We did not even have weapons, but to protect our fellow villagers, we created posts and guarded the villages. They were afraid of our guys. And the first National Hero of Azerbaijan, Hidayat Rustamov fought with us. Armenians offered a large sum of reward for his head. During the occupation of the Qushchular village, he returned to save the children. When the Armenians tried to catch him alive, Hidayat blew himself up with a grenade,” Habil Allahverdiyev, Aghdam’s Khidirli village resident said.

More than 6 thousand Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in battles for Aghdam. About 130,000 displaced persons from Aghdam were settled in 875 settlements of 59 regions of Azerbaijan. The UN Security Council adopted resolutions requiring the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. However, Armenia still ignores them. However, the people of Aghdam believe that soon the occupied lands will be returned, and the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people is restored.