Baku, April 2, AZERTAC

Today, it is six years from the glorious April battle, which is one of the brilliant historic victories of the Azerbaijani army. On 2 April 2016, the Azerbaijani army made the enemy suffer a heavy defeat in response to the subversion of the Armenian armed forces by liberating more than 2000 hectares of the territory of Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Aghdara districts, which were then under occupation. In addition, the Azerbaijani army established full control over thousands of hectares of land. The Azerbaijani armed forces made our people live joy of victory after 23 years.

The purpose of the counter-strike operation of Azerbaijani army was to eliminate the threat caused by the Armenian armed forces to the settlements on the contact line. Thus, since March 2016 units of the Armenian armed forces had been firing at the settlements along the frontline more intensively. In order to make the situation worse the Armenian armed formations were launching artillery fire both on Azerbaijani military positions and on settlements close to the contact line. In the early hours of 2 April the enemy opened fire on all the positions, as well as civilians. The Azerbaijani side immediately made a decision to take adequate action and retaliated resolutely. The coordinates in the front and deep lines of the defense of the enemy were identified and the military personnel and hardware of the Armenian army were destroyed.

The tensest area on the front was in Aghdara-Tartar-Aghdam and Fuzuli directions. In early April, the units of the Azerbaijani army identified the forces of the enemy concentrated in the front and deep lines and destroyed them with decisive strikes. As a result of successful operations the heights in the direction of Talysh village, which could pose threat to the city of Naftalan, were cleaned from the occupying forces. Moreover, an extremely strategic height of Lalatapa, which is situated in the direction of Fuzuli district and allows for controlling a wide area, was liberated with a view to protect the town of Horadiz from the threat of the enemy. Following the decisive strikes of Azerbaijani army, up to 30 tanks, more than 25 artillery units and other military hardware were destroyed, 320 military servicemen were killed and more than 500 military men were wounded on the enemy side. The roads in the direction of Aghdara-Madagiz were kept under control.

The effect of the counter-strike operations undertaken by the Azerbaijani army in response to the subversions of the Armenian army in early April 2016 created deep flaws in the political-military establishment of that country. We can see the consequences of this in Armenian society nowadays. As a result, it was confirmed that the country supports occupation and separatism at the state level. The myth about the unbeatable Armenian army was destroyed in the April victory and the people of Armenia realized that the policy of occupation had failed. The April triumph was an embodiment of the military spirit of Azerbaijani soldiers and unity of the army and the people. The world community realized that it is possible to liberate the occupied territories in a military way and the people, state and army of Azerbaijan are fully capable of it. Following the successful April operations Armenia’s policy of occupation was re-confirmed with irrefutable facts. The facts that most of those killed were military servicemen of Armenia, they were awarded by the Armenian government, most of those wounded received medical care in the hospitals of Armenia, the Armenian government sent “separatist butchers” to Karabakh again to fill in the trenches abandoned by the Armenian army and other facts are vivid examples of this.

There were casualties among the civilians and great damage was inflicted to our settlements as well, during the subversions committed by the Armenian army on the contact line.

A group of Azerbaijani military servicemen, who were especially distinguished for their heroism and bravery for the preservation of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the prevention of the armed subversion committed by the Armenian occupying forces on the contact line of the troops from 2 to 5 April 2016 and the attacks of the enemy on civilians, received superior honorable awards, orders and medals under respective orders of the Azerbaijani President on 19 April 2016.

Among those who were awarded for their service for motherland there are servicemen who received the honorable title of “the National Hero of Azerbaijan”, the orders of “Flag of Azerbaijan” and “For Service for Motherland” and medals of “For Motherland”, “For Bravery” and “For Military Service”.

The April battle demonstrated to the entire world, besides our enemy, that the people and the army of Azerbaijan were ready for any self-devotion and military might to liberate historic lands – Nagorno-Karabakh and the territories around it. The President and the Commander of Armed Forces, Ilham Aliyev, said at a meeting with a group of Azerbaijani servicemen on the occasion of the anniversary of the April battle: “the April battle is our glorious victory that shows the power of our people and our army. The flag of Azerbaijan is waved nowadays in the liberated territories of Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Aghdam as a result of the April battle. This battle showed that the people and government of Azerbaijan will never be reconciled to occupation and will restore their territorial integrity at any cost”.

Indeed, as the head of state said, the April battle showed the professionalism of Azerbaijani army at the same time. Pursuing counter-attacks from unfavorable positions, the Azerbaijani army gained strategic positions. Today these strategic heights and the territories liberated from occupation allow the Azerbaijani army to have full control over the current situation on the contact line and take necessary action.

The biggest historical importance of the April battle was the start of the “Great Return” process thanks to this victory. The threat for the lives of civilians in Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil district was fully eliminated following the liberation of Lalatapa height. The process of Great Return started with an Order of Azerbaijani President dated 24 January 2017 on the restoration and population of Jojug Marjanli village. The return of the people of this village to their native land after 23 years created a strong belief in entire Azerbaijani people that other territories under occupation would also be liberated soon. The facts that President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva visited the contact line to become familiar with the damage inflicted on the settlements by the fire from the Armenian army and met with local people and military servicemen on the frontline increased hopes of the Azerbaijani people and army for a total victory over the enemy.

The statements by the President and the Commander of Armed Forces, Ilham Aliyev, on the significance of the April battle openly expressed the importance of this victory for Azerbaijani army and people: “The April battle should be included into military textbooks. The April battle again demonstrated from the viewpoint of both professionalism and patriotic spirit that the people of Azerbaijan are a heroic people. It again showed that we will not be reconciled to this situation. It demonstrated that the unity between the government and the people is at a high level enough and is getting stronger. The resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a first priority for us, as always”.

Encouraged more by the successful April battle, the Azerbaijani army gained another big triumph in two years. In May 2018, the detached army troops took under control Gunnut village and surrounding territories, showing again that Azerbaijani soldiers and officers are determined to carry out any task in front of them. As President Aliyev put it: “11,000 hectares of land of Nakhchivan, which was occupied by the Armenians in the early 1990s, were liberated following a successful operation by the detached army troops of Nakhchivan. Very great engineering and surveillance works were held. The Nakhchivan operation was carried out with a high degree of subtleness and professionalism. The Azerbaijani servicemen again showed heroism and bravery. The Nakhchivan operation again showed that the Azerbaijani army is a strong army”.

The April battle is of great importance on the way to the great victory in the glorious Patriotic War, which has been inscribed in the military annals of Azerbaijan with gold letters. Besides increasing the belief of the Azerbaijani army and people in the victory, the military successes over the enemy during this battle six years ago became an important test and experience in the battlefield for the military personnel of the army. Applying this experience successfully in the second Karabakh war, the brave Azerbaijani army liberated the territories from occupation by making decisive strikes on the enemy. We are proud to say that the developed armies of the world thoroughly learn and apply the most state-of-the-art battle techniques and innovations that our glorious army used in the Patriotic War to win the great victory in just 44 days and ensure Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Today every Azerbaijani feels endless pride with the fact that our tricolor, which was raised in Lalatapa six years ago, is now being waved in Shusha and other territories, which were liberated from occupation.