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Azerbaijani President: Gubadli operation required special professionalism and self-sacrifice. And Azerbaijani Army showed this professionalism and self-sacrifice

24 December 2020 18:59 (UTC +04:00)

"It was raining this morning, but when we reached Gubadli, the sun came out. Nature itself is greeting and welcoming us. True owners have returned to Gubadli," said Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan as visited the liberated from occupation Gubadli and Zangilan districts, APA reports.

"The liberation of Gubadli from occupation was a historic event. The liberation of Gubadli on 25 October brought us closer to victory. There were fierce battles for Gubadli. We had martyrs. Among them, National Hero Shukur Hamidov from Gubadli district died as a hero in the battles for his homeland. I awarded the title of a National Hero to Shukur Hamidov for his heroism in the April battles. May God rest his soul in peace! May God rest the souls of all our martyrs in peace! Azerbaijani servicemen, including Shukur Hamidov, have been awarded high military orders by the state.

The operation to liberate Gubadli district took several days. After the liberation of Zangilan on 20 October, of course, our next destination was Gubadli district. The Armenians had built strong fortifications in the city. Now there are no traces of the city, all buildings have been destroyed, demolished, and all the villages and settlements in Jabrayil, Zangilan and Gubadli districts along the road have been destroyed. But here at the entrance to the city, the enemy had set up a military base. Enemy troops were stationed at these heights. This is why it was not easy to liberate the city of Gubadli. First of all, Armenian fortifications had to be destroyed, and one of them was located in Khanlig settlement. They had built strong fortifications there and turned Khanlig settlement into a base for themselves. The Armenians living abroad had built a settlement there. But it is Azerbaijani soldiers who are stationed in this settlement now. Armenians were brought here from abroad with the money of the Armenian diaspora and were illegally settled in Gubadli. This is a war crime in itself. The Armenian state will be held accountable for this and all other crimes.

In order to liberate Gubadli, we first had to seize these heights because the enemy was regularly firing on our soldiers from these heights. At the same time, we were fired on from the territory of Armenia proper. Azerbaijan did not intend to move into the territory of Armenia, and I have repeatedly stated this during the war. They believed that they could use these opportunities to stop our attack. The distance from here, from the city of Gubadli, to the Armenian border over there is 5 kilometers. They fired on our soldiers with heavy artillery both from there and from these heights, using various weapons. Therefore, the Gubadli operation required special professionalism and self-sacrifice. And the Azerbaijani Army showed this professionalism and self-sacrifice. First of all, we took the heights dominating the city, the surrounding villages, including Khanlig settlement, Padar, Sariyatag, Mahmudlu villages, and other strategic heights. After that, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces entered the city and cleared it of the enemy," the head of the state noted.