Aghdam, March 27, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva participated in the inauguration of the first phase of the village of Sarijali in Aghdam district on March 27.

Emin Huseynov, Special Representative of the President of Azerbaijan in Aghdam, Fuzuli, and Khojavand districts, briefed the head of state and the First Lady on the newly created living conditions in the village.

Sarijali village, one of the major reconstruction sites in Aghdam, was occupied by Armenian armed forces on July 23, 1993, during the First Karabakh War. During the occupation, the village was completely destroyed, including residential buildings, schools, kindergartens, healthcare facilities, and commercial establishments. Following Azerbaijan’s victory in the Patriotic War, Aghdam was returned to Azerbaijan on November 20, 2020, under the Trilateral Statement. After the liberation of Sarijali, a mass grave belonging to Azerbaijanis was discovered in the village. Prior to the occupation, the village had a population of 1,024 people (239 families).

Located six kilometers from Aghdam city center, the foundation of Sarijali village was laid by President Ilham Aliyev on October 4, 2022. The village is designed to accommodate 1,873 residents (425 families) across a total area exceeding 123 hectares. The construction plan includes 425 individual houses to be built in two phases.

To ensure employment opportunities for residents, various educational, economic, social, and public service institutions, as well as cultural and community centers, have been established. Infrastructure work, including internal roads, electricity, telecommunications, water and gas supply has also been completed.

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President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the opening of a newly constructed multifunctional administrative building for local executive structures in Sarijali.

The administrative center, located at the village entrance, will house multiple government services, ensuring efficient and centralized service delivery for residents. The building is equipped with various offices and meeting rooms, providing modern working conditions for staff.

All non-residential buildings in the village, including the administrative facility, have been equipped with rooftop solar panels to meet their electricity needs.

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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited newly built individual residential houses in Sarijali village to inspect the living conditions provided for returning residents.

As part of the first phase, 203 families (895 people) are set to relocate to the village. A total of 203 houses have been constructed, offering two, three, four, and five-room layouts. Considering the future population growth, 54 hectares of land have been allocated for the first phase of the village’s construction.

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Following this, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the inauguration of the newly built Sarijali village nursery-kindergarten.

The head of state and the First Lady were informed that the modern 100-seat facility is fully equipped to provide a high-quality learning and nurturing environment for young children. The kindergarten features well-equipped rooms designed to support the intellectual, physical, and mental development of children, as well as foster their talents, social skills, and well-being. Five educational groups will operate within the facility.

The kindergarten’s outdoor area includes a playground with various attractions and sports equipment, along with extensive landscaping.

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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the opening ceremony of the newly built secondary school in Sarijali village.

The school, designed for 360 students, features 14 classrooms and is equipped with all necessary teaching materials to ensure an efficient learning environment. The facility includes laboratories, technology, biology, and computer science rooms, a pre-conscription training cabinet, a library, an auditorium, a gym, and a canteen.

A sports field has also been built, which will be accessible to both students and local residents outside school hours. The school premises include recreational areas and green spaces.

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The head of state and the First Lady then met with the residents who had moved into the new apartments and presented them with the keys to their homes.

The President of Azerbaijan addressed the event.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

President Ilham Aliyev: Welcome to Sarijali.

Residents: You are also welcome, Mr. President.

President Ilham Aliyev: I sincerely congratulate you.

Residents: Thank you very much.

President Ilham Aliyev: First of all, I congratulate you on the upcoming Ramadan holiday and the restoration of the Sarijali village. In other words, it is a double holiday today. Opening the village and making it available to former displaced persons on the eve of this holiday is a significant event.

We recently celebrated the Novruz holiday. On the eve of Novruz, I met with the residents of Hasanriz village of Aghdara district and presented them with keys to their new homes. Meeting with the residents of the first restored village of Aghdam district today is, of course, a great happiness. After a long break, you have returned to your native land. Excellent conditions have been created for you here.

During numerous meetings with former displaced persons during the years of occupation, when I was presenting them with temporary housing, I always said that even better conditions would be created for them once the lands were liberated and that we would return them to our native land. Today, we are witnessing confirmation of those words again. This is the 13th settlement to which former IDPs have returned. Such conditions will be created for all IDPs in the future. The first settlement in Aghdam district is now available to former IDPs after the occupation, but the natives of Aghdam will also return to other villages this year. This year, people are expected to return to the villages of Kangarli and Khidirli, as construction work is underway in other villages as well. Of course, the city of Aghdam is being rebuilt from scratch and will turn into one of the most beautiful cities of our country.

The city of Aghdam and all villages of the district were razed to the ground by the invidious enemy. Not a single building survived. This shows the nature of the enemy yet again. It shows their completely unfounded hostility towards us. It is no coincidence that some foreign experts and journalists have been unable to hold back their astonishment and even disgust when visiting Aghdam. Because for many years during the occupation, foreign citizens could not come to Aghdam district, to the city of Aghdam, to the parts of the city that remained standing. After the occupation was ended, both Azerbaijani citizens and foreign visitors started coming here and saw what kind of an enemy we were faced with. That is, during the occupation, the city was completely demolished and razed to the ground. Aghdam has been described as a Hiroshima of the Caucasus, but the difference is that Hiroshima was devastated as a result of an atomic bomb, while Aghdam was taken apart by Armenian thieves and looters for 30 years. They took away its stones and sold them in various places. In other words, this is unprecedented barbarity. I have said this many times – Armenian fascism is the highest peak of fascism. We are rebuilding Aghdam from scratch, and we will rebuild it. Large-scale construction work is underway here now. In the post-occupation period, many important infrastructure facilities have been put into operation – first of all, roads. The Aghdam-Barda road has been rebuilt. There was never such a beautiful road here even during the Soviet era. The Aghdam-Khankendi road is undergoing reconstruction. It will also be a four-lane road, just like the Barda-Aghdam road. A railway is under construction. It will probably be put into operation this year. In other words, it will be possible to comfortably reach Aghdam by railway. A station is under construction as well. The Aghdam Mosque has been restored. The contemptible enemy kept animals in it to insult all Muslims, to insult Muslims of the world. The first building to be restored here was the Aghdam Mosque. A Mugham center is under construction. The Imarat complex has been restored. Natavan’s grave has been restored, an exact copy of the memorial destroyed by the enemy has been rebuilt. The Khachinchay water reservoir has been rebuilt - the enemy had drained it too. A school is under construction, a hospital is under construction, and a large industrial complex is already operational. Several enterprises are already operational there, and it will be the largest industrial complex in the Karabakh and East Zangezur regions. Of course, residential houses, several residential complexes are under construction as well, and they will be put into operation this year.

In addition, taking into account the tourism potential of the region, two hotels have already started operating and will serve Aghdam, Fuzuli and surrounding regions. So this is how we are building the city. I remember meeting with the people of Aghdam in Aghdam for the first time after the occupation and laying the foundation of the new city. I said back then that we would build such a city that the whole world would envy us.

We have implemented all these are projects on our own. The state of Azerbaijan is capable of doing these things today. I have only listed the work underway in Aghdam district. But if we consider the work underway in all of the liberated territories, we can say that no other country has ever done so much restoration work in such a short period of time.

The Second Karabakh War will, of course, go down in history as part of our glorious history, as a glorious page of our history. As you know, during the war, active military operations were not conducted in the Aghdam direction because the enemy had built strong fortifications and mined everything here. Therefore, we began to move forward in the Aghdam direction only after Hadrut, Jabrayil, Fuzuli and Shusha had been liberated and the enemy's forces were actually surrounded. Azerbaijan showed humanity again and gave the enemy a chance to vacate these lands of his own free will. Otherwise, the 10,000, perhaps even 15,000 contingent of the Armenian army that was surrounded in this region would have been completely destroyed. In other words, the state of Azerbaijan once again showed humanity towards those who did not deserve it. After all, no humanity was shown to us. An act of genocide was committed against us. Our people were subjected to great suffering. Our cities were devastated, our villages and towns were ravaged. Our babies and women were killed by the barbaric enemy. But I said during the war that we would take revenge on the battlefield, and we did exactly that.

As a result of the Second Karabakh War, we regained the city of Aghdam and the villages that were under occupation at the time without firing a single shot. Along with Aghdam, Lachin and Kalbajar districts were also returned to us. We would have liberated these lands anyway, but if the war had continued, there would have been many casualties. Therefore, we stopped the war in time, but did not back down a single step from our policy. Three years later, we took full control and restored our sovereignty and territorial integrity, and separatism has been completely eradicated today. People will live here comfortably now, without fear of anyone and with dignity. I am sure that they will live here happily. Because both our lands have been regained and the national dignity of our people has been fully restored. For 30 years, Armenia had been trying in every possible way not to return a single inch of our land to us. The foreign forces behind it were also in solidarity and in alliance with them. But they did not take into account one thing, and it is the strength, determination and courage of the state of Azerbaijan and the heroism of our Army. May Allah have mercy on all our martyrs, may Allah always keep the heads of our Army and the personnel of our Armed Forces high. As a result of their heroism and selflessness, we are standing here today and meeting on the eve of this beautiful holiday.

Restoration work will be continued. Only the first phase of the construction of Sarijali village has been completed. There are currently more than 200 houses here, but after the completion of the second phase, the number of houses will reach approximately 400. There are all the conditions for living here comfortably. There are beautiful and neat houses, there is electricity, water, gas, heating, there is a beautiful school, a kindergarten, a medical center, a sports ground, there are public service areas, there is even a market complex. The area adjoining to the houses is also quite large – 1,200 square meters. At the same time, after the surrounding areas are watered, it will be possible to carry out sowing and harvesting work there as well. The Sarsang reservoir and the Sugovushan reservoir can create these opportunities for us now. To do that, the canals that were built here in the past must be restored. Work in this direction is also underway. As you may know, both the Sarsang and Sugovushan reservoirs were built at the initiative of National Leader Heydar Aliyev in order to provide Aghdam and several surrounding districts with irrigation water. During the occupation, the enemy cut off our water. We have now regained ownership of our water resources. As I mentioned, the Khachinchay reservoir has already been restored, and the entire territory of Aghdam and neighboring districts will be irrigated through a canal originating from Sugovushan. Water will now be available to approximately 100,000 hectares of previously unirrigated land.

Therefore, those who will live in Aghdam district should be prepared for this. We are taking the necessary steps to create jobs here. At the same time, entrepreneurs should focus on developing agriculture.

I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart again and wish you good health. Live happily here.

Residents: Thank you very much.

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Following the speech, a ceremony was held to present the keys to the new homeowners, and commemorative photographs were taken.

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President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva then had a conversation with the villagers.