President: Aghdam-Khankendi-Shusha highway to be opened after some time

"We will also restore the city of Aghdam. Of course, we must comprehensively do everything. A master plan will be prepared, and specialists will be involved. Infrastructure projects, office buildings, social facilities, roads, and other necessary work will be carried out in a planned manner. The state will help citizens to return there. Therefore, the restoration of the Aghdam district will have a special place in our plans because it is a large district in terms of territory and, at the same time, as I said, it is the largest district in terms of population."

According to Report, President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev said in his address to the nation on the liberation of the Aghdam region.

"Our restoration work has already begun. During my visit to Fuzuli, all relevant instructions were given on constructing a new road from Fuzuli to Shusha, and funds were allocated from the President's contingency fund – initially 50 million manats. But these funds will not be sufficient. Additional funds will be given next year. According to my instructions, the Ahmadbayli-Alkhanli-Fuzuli-Shusha road is divided into several parts. I have instructed several companies to build this road without wasting time and in a short time. The Azerbaijan people know that Shusha's route used to be the Aghdam-Khankandi road, but it is impossible to use this road yet. However, the trilateral statement signed on 10 November states that all communications will be opened, including the Aghdam-Khankandi-Shusha highway, which will be opened after some time. I believe that the opening of contacts, as well as the roads and communications connecting the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the rest of Azerbaijan, will also contribute to long-term peace in the region in the future.

"We will resolve these issues in a planned manner. We started the first significant project. In the same way, we will take consistent steps to restore Aghdam and all its infrastructure. The people of Aghdam and all the other districts liberated from occupation can rest assured that the Azerbaijani state will always stand by them.

"The liberation of Aghdam was possible as a result of the glorious military victory. If Azerbaijan had not defeated Armenia on the battlefield, Armenia would not have left our lands of its own free will. There are many reasons for this - fortifications they had built in those regions, in the occupied territories. They invested a lot of money there. Those fortifications were intended to prevent the Azerbaijani Army from passing through them. But they were wrong again. They could not calculate our strength correctly. They did not know what the Azerbaijani Army and Azerbaijani citizens were capable of doing. They did not know that our strength, equipment, and morale led us to that victory. They did not know that the Azerbaijan people have been living with the desire to return to their ancestral lands for all these years. All these and other factors paved the way for our victory," the head of state noted.