"The 44-day patriotic war is part of our glorious history. This history will live forever because this victory is unique in our history. The people of Azerbaijan deserved it, and we won the victory, drove the enemy out of our homeland, liberated our cities, liberated our native Shusha. Today, Shusha is being revitalized, and tangible steps are being taken to revive the city of Shusha," President Ilham Aliyev said at the official opening ceremony of the Vagif Poetry Days reorganized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in the native city of the poet for the first time after the liberation of Shusha from occupation, Report informs, citing AzerTag.
"I first came to Shusha on 14 January this year, after the war. This date was not chosen by chance. Because 39 years ago, the mausoleum of Vagif was opened here with the participation of the great leader, and my arrival here specifically on 14 January had a great symbolic meaning. One of the first instructions during my first visit here was to restore Vagif's mausoleum, because the vandals had destroyed it. Vagif's bas-relief and the gravestone inside the mausoleum were removed. In other words, they committed vandalism inherent in them, as we have witnessed in all other liberated lands. The restoration of the mausoleum was undertaken by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and we are launching the Vagif Poetry Days in front of this mausoleum today. The Vagif Poetry Days have been restored, and so has the "Kharibulbul" music festival. In May of this year, we held this festival with great enthusiasm and restored this history," the head of state said.