From 30 Years of Occupation to Triumph: How Azerbaijan Restored Its Territorial Integrity and Forced Armenia into Peace

Looking back at the pages of history, one can state that Azerbaijan was subjected to occupation and deprivation for many years. Since the early 1990s, which is not such a distant past, the country faced military aggression from Armenia, as a result of which 20% of its territories were seized. Such an annexationist policy against Azerbaijan constituted a gross violation of the UN Charter. However, the Armenian side self-assuredly believed that it could hold the occupied lands with impunity and appropriate foreign territories, declaring them its own.

On this path, the occupiers did not shy away from either falsification of history or acts of vandalism. Mosques, museums, cultural monuments were destroyed - everything that testified to the centuries-long presence of the Azerbaijani people on these lands. For 30 years, negotiations were conducted to compel Armenia to abandon its destructive position. However, expectations were not met. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions were demonstratively ignored. But the aspiration of the Azerbaijani people for independence and the restoration of justice remained unwavering.

The belief in victory was absolute. The people were firmly convinced that crimes against humanity and the destruction of cities and villages would not go unpunished. Even in the summer of 2023, Armenia, with the support of the West, initiated a false campaign about alleged famine and humanitarian catastrophe in Karabakh. Representatives of the Armenian authorities did not realize that they were confronting an entirely different Azerbaijan - not the one from the 1990s. Despite this, during the three years following the 44-day Patriotic War of 2020, Yerevan showed no sincerity in the negotiation process.

Speculating on the issues of rights and freedoms of Karabakh residents, the Armenian side attempted to obstruct the process of restoring territorial integrity. Nevertheless, the newly formed reality proved sufficiently solid and irreversible. The Republic of Azerbaijan independently ensured the fulfillment of the requirements of the UN Security Council resolutions. On September 19, 2023, large-scale provocations staged by remnants of Armenian armed formations and separatist forces on Karabakh lands were successfully suppressed, and the remnants of Armenia's armed forces were disarmed and completely withdrawn from our territories.

It should be noted that on September 2, 2023, Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory address on the occasion of the anniversary of the adoption of the so-called "declaration of independence" of the puppet regime created as a result of Armenian aggression. Following this, "elections" were held in the leadership of the fictitious regime, which completely contradicted the agreements reached in Prague. Such contradictory statements and actions by the opposing side made the conduct of special operations in Karabakh inevitable.

As a result, the local operations, which lasted just over 23 hours, ended in unconditional victory. Only after this was Nikol Pashinyan compelled to pursue peace, and real negotiations on a peaceful settlement began. Ultimately, on August 8, 2025, the peace treaty was initialed in Washington. The will of Armenia, which until the very end sought to continue the occupation, was definitively broken. Today, the state flag of Azerbaijan proudly flies over all territories where our sovereignty has been established - from the city of Shusha to Lachin, from Aghdam to Kalbajar, symbolizing the triumph of international law and the indomitable will of an entire people.