Tartar, October 4, AZERTAC

On October 3, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev inspected the house of Sahib Ismayilov-a resident of the city of Tartar-destroyed as a result of the Smerch missile strike by the Armenian armed forces during the Patriotic war, and viewed conditions created in the new house built instead of it.

According to AZERTAC, a total of 16 civilians were killed and 63 were wounded in Tartar as a result of treacherous enemy fire during the Patriotic war. During the war, 16,277 tank, artillery, GRAD, mortar shells and 21 banned missiles landed on 40 settlements of the district, including the city of Tartar. As a result, 82 multi-storey residential buildings, 5,949 private houses, 184 business and 301 non-residential facilities, 17 schools, 11 kindergartens, one vocational school, one music school, 30 administrative buildings and about 20 cultural and healthcare facilities were damaged in Tartar.

Greeting local residents, President Ilham Aliyev said: Where was the previous house?

Head of the district executive authority Mustagim Mammadov: The previous house was here. On 26 October, one of three Smerch missiles fired at the city center landed here.

President Ilham Aliyev: Did Smerch land here?

Mustagim Mammadov: Yes, Smerch landed here, destroying two adjacent houses. The other one is over there.

President Ilham Aliyev: Is this the previous house?

Mustagim Mammadov: Yes.

President Ilham Aliyev: Did anyone live here?

Mustagim Mammadov: Yes, people from Susuzlug village of Kalbajar district.

President Ilham Aliyev: Where were you when the shells landed?

Resident: We had gone into a shelter about 15-20 minutes earlier.

President Ilham Aliyev: In total, more than 30,000 shells were fired, 16,000 landed in Tartar.

Mustagim Mammadov: Yes.

President Ilham Aliyev: How is the restoration work going now?

Mustagim Mammadov: Mr. President, almost 62 houses were destroyed, 36 of them are fully ready and have already been handed over. Final completion work on the other 26 will be completed in the coming days.

President Ilham Aliyev: My note says that 84 percent of the housing stock in Tartar has already been restored.

Mustagim Mammadov: Yes, it has been completely restored.

President Ilham Aliyev: In other words, it is 84 percent in one year.

Mustagim Mammadov: All 82 residential buildings have been provided with roofing.

President Ilham Aliyev: What about the schools? Seventeen schools have been destroyed here.

Mustagim Mammadov: Yes, 17 schools have been repaired. A modular school is being built on your order and it is ready. Design and estimate documents have already been prepared for city school No. 5, and we will start construction in the coming days.

President Ilham Aliyev: What about business facilities?

Mustagim Mammadov: A total of 184 business facilities were destroyed, and all of them have already been repaired. Also, 301 non-residential areas were destroyed. Mr. President, on your order, all people have been paid compensation for the damage to their property totaling 6,202,000 manats. A total of 545 animals have been provided in compensation. A total of 6,794,200 manats have been paid. Even those whose farmland was damaged have received compensation. This includes those who had trenches dug in their farmland and those destroyed by shells. In other words, compensation has been paid to all segments of the population.

President Ilham Aliyev: What do you do for a living?

Resident: We grow saplings.

Mustagim Mammadov: People are engaged in growing saplings and breeding livestock.

President Ilham Aliyev: Livestock? Do you keep cattle?

Resident: Yes. Our hearts are longing for Kalbajar, Mr. Commander-in-Chief.

President Ilham Aliyev: There is probably no place in the world as beautiful as Kalbajar.

Resident: Indeed.

President Ilham Aliyev: Let's have a photo taken here.

X X X

A photo was taken.

X X X

President Ilham Aliyev: Good bye.

Residents: Good bye.

X X X

Then President Ilham Aliyev inspected the shells the Armenian armed forces fired from various types of rocket launchers and artillery units in the center of Tartar.