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Checkpoint on the Lachin-Khankendi road: another success of a decisive, consistent, purposeful policy -ANALYSIS

26 April 2023 15:51 (UTC +04:00)

Another success achieved as a result of Azerbaijan's consistent and purposeful policy was the setting up of a border checkpoint on the border with Armenia, on the Lachin-Khankendi road. This is another historical achievement of Azerbaijan after the 44-day war. Starting from September 2020, Azerbaijan and its leader are moving step by step towards their goals.

The establishment of Azerbaijan's border checkpoint on the Lachin-Khankendi road on April 23 is the result of the decisive and consistent policy pursued by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

It is worth recalling that during the negotiations between Azerbaijan, Russia, and Armenia on the eve of the signing of a tripartite statement on the results of the 44-day war, on November 10, 2020, Armenia made other claims. Yerevan insisted that the Lachin corridor be 20 km wide and controlled by Armenia. However, this inappropriate demand of Armenia was strongly rejected by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. Having expressed a tough and uncompromising position, the head of state achieved the reflection in the tripartite statement of the fundamental provisions related to determining the width of the Lachin corridor at 5 km, commissioning a new road within 3 years and returning the regional center of Lachin to Azerbaijan.

It is worth noting that Armenia, which signed the act of surrender, did not give up its dirty intentions in further steps. So, despite the fact that Azerbaijan completed the construction of a new road in a year and a half, making it ready for operation, Armenia artificially slows down the laying of a 7-kilometer section on its territory and even in August 2022 staged provocations in connection with this. However, all vile intentions and provocations were prevented by reasonable, thoughtful, and consistent measures, Yerevan's attempts to prevent the transfer of the regional center of Lachin under the control of Azerbaijan failed. The city of Lachin came under the complete control of Azerbaijan in September 2022 without bloodshed and without casualties. On September 21, President Ilham Aliyev visited Lachin and hoisted the Azerbaijani flag in the center of the city.

In his speech at the flag-raising ceremony, the Azerbaijani President called it a historic event: “This is a historic event. The liberation of Lachin will remain in history forever. Today, I raised the Azerbaijani flag in the city center, in the central street of Lachin. This flag will fly here forever.”

Unfortunately, we are still witnessing provocations and sabotage by Armenia. Despite the devastating blows inflicted during the war, at the subsequent stage, the Armenians continued to transport ammunition to Karabakh through Lachin, and tried to form a military contingent in Karabakh. There were also cases of plundering of the natural resources of Azerbaijan in Karabakh and their export to Armenia through Lachin. In particular, the deposits of gold "Gyzylbulag" and copper-molybdenum "Demirli" were illegally exploited, the natural resources of Azerbaijan were plundered in front of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh and exported to Armenia, and from there to abroad.

As a result of negotiations between Azerbaijan and Russian peacekeepers, an agreement was reached to inspect and monitor these deposits, but the separatist scum led by Ruben Vardanyan, who was sent by Moscow to Karabakh on a special mission, did not allow this, which forced them to take retaliatory measures. In order to prevent the looting of the wealth of Azerbaijan, causing heavy blows to its ecology, on December 12, 2022, eco-activists began an uninterrupted protest action on the section of the Lachin-Khankendi road passing through Shusha, thereby preventing the illegal actions of the Armenians.

An interesting point is that international organizations, states that should support this step of eco-activists, condemn illegal activities on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, again, as in the 30-year period of occupation, demonstrated an unfair position. Campaigns were organized against Azerbaijan, attempts were made to exert pressure, black PR was carried out against Azerbaijan in foreign media, allegedly Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh.

But no pressure, no campaign could force Azerbaijan, the President to turn back from a decisive position. Azerbaijan continued to demand its right, the Administration of the President of Azerbaijan even appealed to the Armenians living in Karabakh in connection with reintegration and solving existing problems, inviting their representatives to Baku. However, all calls from Azerbaijan remained unanswered.

Instead, the Armenians continued their provocations, the transfer of weapons and military equipment from Armenia to Karabakh by country roads. In March this year, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan repeatedly disseminated information that illegal construction and improvement works were activated by Armenians on the Khankendi-Khalfali-Turshsu and Khankendi-Kosalar-Mirzeler-Turshsu roads, which was recorded by the means of technical surveillance of the Azerbaijan Army. The information noted that these roads are also used to supply the combat positions of illegal Armenian armed groups.

Given the current situation, in order to prevent the use of dirt roads north of the Lachin road for illegal activities, as well as aggravate the situation with the transport of ammunition by Armenia and the commission of potential provocations, the units of the Azerbaijan Army carried out the necessary local control measures, took some heights, secured control over the road and territory. As a result of the successful operation of the Azerbaijan Army, the villages of Allahgulular and Zamanpeyesi of the Shusha region also came under our control.

However, all the measures taken were still not enough, the Armenians were still looking for hidden, alternative roads in this territory to achieve their vile goals. In this case, Azerbaijan, having taken a decisive step, as a result of a professionally conducted operation on April 23, established a checkpoint at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road, on the border with Armenia.

Azerbaijan, having established a checkpoint on the Lachin-Khankendi road, not only prevented the next provocations of the Armenians but also showed everyone that it had fully restored its territorial integrity, confirming this once again. Azerbaijan has established a checkpoint on its sovereign territory and raised its flag on the state border. Thus, the words of President Ilham Aliyev “I know what to do, how and when.” once again found their confirmation. This is the result and another triumph of the policy consistently and resolutely pursued by the President of Azerbaijan.