Today marks the first-ever day of Fuzuli city in Azerbaijan, Report informs.
Thus, Fuzuli City Day is solemnly celebrated on October 17 every year following the decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev on July 31, 2023.
The celebration of the significant day on this date is related to the liberation of the city of Fuzuli on October 17.
On October 17, 2020, the President of Azerbaijan, Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, in his address to the nation, announced the liberation of the city of Fuzuli and seven other villages of the district. On the same day, along with the city of Fuzuli, seven other villages of the district - Gochahmadli, Chiman, Juvarli, Pirahmadli, Musabayli, Ishigli, and Dadali villages were cleared of the occupiers.
Azerbaijan's glorious tricolor flag was hoisted on the liberated territories.
The Fuzuli operation was one of the most important battles of the Azerbaijani Army in the Second Karabakh War on the southeastern front. The enemy fled the battlefield, losing a lot of manpower and equipment. Moreover, the breaking of several defensive lines on Fuzuli's former line of contact created ample opportunities for the Azerbaijani Army to advance along the southern front. As a result of the operations, the chief of engineering and fortification of the Armenian army, Colonel Ashot Ghazaryan, was killed.
Six days after Azerbaijan's victory over the enemy in the Patriotic War, on November 16, 2020, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the liberated Fuzuli district. Ilham Aliyev raised the glorious Azerbaijani flag in Fuzuli. Those images are one of the most glorious pages in the modern history of Azerbaijan. The victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief raised our tricolor flag in our historical land liberated by the heroic Azerbaijani Army.
Upon relevant decrees signed by President Ilham Aliyev on December 25, 2020, and June 24, 2021, a group of servicemen was awarded the "For the liberation of Fuzuli" medal. They were awarded for their courage and bravery shown in the military operations for the liberation of the district.
Note that Fuzuli, one of the largest residential areas in Azerbaijan, was founded in 1827. It was founded as a district in 1930 based in the Garabulag village and was named Karyagin. With the district center being the Karyagin settlement, it covered the villages around Gozluchay, Kondalanchay, Araz, and Fuzuli-Agdam road. In 1959, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the great Azerbaijani poet Mahammad Fuzuli, the district was renamed Fuzuli district. The area of the district is 1,386 square kilometers, with a population totaling 134,333 people. It includes one city and 78 villages.
Following the attack of the Armenian Armed Forces on the territory of the district on August 23, 1993, 58 villages, including the city of Fuzuli, were occupied.
About 50% of the district population lives in one city, 17 settlements, and 21 villages in the liberated territory. Other residents of the district have temporarily settled as IDPs in Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Beylagan, Imishli, Saatli, Sabirabad, and other districts.
Fuzuli district is rich in historical and religious monuments, especially tombs. Fuzuli district, along with other settlements, was vandalized during the Armenian occupation. Houses and historical monuments in the district were razed to the ground, and trees were destroyed.
Restoration and reconstruction work is already being continued rapidly in the Fuzuli district. Infrastructure is being restored in the city. The Fuzuli International Airport was opened here on October 26, 2021. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, participated in the opening ceremony. In addition, President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva visited Fuzuli several times.
In Fuzuli, near the village of Karakhanbeyli, a memorial plaque was erected in honor of our martyrs. On September 27, 2022, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the memorial plaque during their next visit to the Fuzuli district.
On September 19 of this year, local anti-terrorist measures were launched in the region in order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Declaration, prevent large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, disarm and withdraw the Armenian armed forces units from our territories, neutralize their military infrastructure, ensure the safety of civilians returning to the liberated territories and the civil workers and military personnel involved in the reconstruction work, and restore the constitutional structure of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
During the measures that lasted for a little more than 23 hours, the positions of the Armenian armed forces on the front line and in-depth and long-term firing points, as well as combat vehicles and military objects were destroyed by the use of high-precision weapons. The enemy raised a white flag. With this, the constitutional structure was restored in all territories of Azerbaijan. At present, the glorious tricolor flag of Azerbaijan is waving everywhere in Karabakh.
On October 16, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited Fuzuli district for the next time. during the visit, the head of state laid the foundations for the Juvarli and Gochahmadli villages of the district, the sports complex in the city, the second and third residential complexes, a 240-seat kindergarten and an administrative building.