Nagorno Garabagh

The presidential order on restoration of the liberated Jojug Marjanli village of Azerbaijan’s Jabrayil District is of huge historic and political importance, and it is the beginning of a great victory to come, MP Isa Habibbeyli, who is the vice-president of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), told APA.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on measures to restore the Jojug Marjanli village of the Jabrayil District, liberated from the Armenian occupation.

The State Committee of Azerbaijan for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs will receive 4 million manats from the Presidential Reserve Fund for 2017 for construction of 50 houses, a school building and the relevant infrastructure at the first stage, according to the order.

“This is the first time Azerbaijan is taking a step to substantially restore a residential area since the occupation. This is a major event in the history of our independence,” the MP said, noting that this order has renewed hopes for the liberation of Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.

“At the same time, the restoration of this village is indicative of the confidence and enthusiasm of the Azerbaijani army who demonstrated a remarkable valor during the April battles,” Habibbeyli added. “It also shows the strength of the policy that is being pursued by Mr President. This order is of huge historic and political importance. It’s the beginning of a great victory to come.”

Speaking to APA, MP Bakhtiyar Aliyev noted that the allocation of an initial amount of four million manats for the restoration of the liberated Jojuq Marjanli village upon the presidential order and the IDPs’ return to their ancestral lands is giving glad tidings of the long-anticipated return to Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to him, this order demonstrates the political will of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“This order is a message to the world as to the rational continuity of the successful operations carried out by the Azerbaijani army in April of last year as well as Azerbaijan’s principled stance that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only be resolved in line with its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

In his statement to APA, Shair Ramaldanov, retired colonel of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, noted that the Jojug Marjanli village is one of the settlements liberated from the Armenian occupation during the Horadiz operation in 1993-1994.

“The positions of the occupying Armenian forces made it impossible for residents to live in the village. The village was near Armenian positions and it was impossible to ensure the security,” Ramaldanov said, adding. “During the April clashes last year, the Azerbaijani armed forces forced Armenians to retreat in the direction of Talish and Lele Tepe heights and ensured the security of the Tapgaragoyunlu village of Gornaboy and the Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil district.”

The retired colonel stressed the importance of measures taken by President Ilham Aliyev towards the modernization of the infrastructure of frontline settlements.

He welcomed the presidential order on the allocation of for million manats for restoration of the Jojug Marjanli village.

“Henceforth, the people will be able to return to their native lands and live there. This is a big step,” Ramaldanov said. “Jojug Marjanli is located near the frontline. It is very important to create conditions for the people living in frontline settlements.”

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.