On May 10, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, visited the occupied city of Kovsakan (Zangelan) and met with resettled families.

Aliyev considered it necessary to emphasize that the occupied Kovsakan or, in his words, Zangelan, is located in the transport corridor, so it will become a transport center for Azerbaijan and the entire region.

“A railway is being built. In the near future, in one to one and a half years, it will be possible to reach Zangela from Baku by rail, as today they travel on the Aghdam railway line. Next year it will be possible to reach Stepanakert by rail. And this railway will have its continuation, and it will connect Nakhichevan to “Zangezur Corridor”. Actually, the journey from here to Nakhichevan will take 30 minutes. We will geographically connect Nakhichevan with the main part of Azerbaijan.

At the same time, on our initiative, the construction of a bridge on the border of Iran is almost finished, and now the construction of border-customs infrastructures and buildings is underway. Probably, in a few months they will also be ready for operation, and it will become an international transport corridor. Both railways and roads passing through here will be of great benefit because people will be provided with jobs there. And this will be a huge investment in the economy of Zangelan and, in general, Azerbaijan.

After the opening of the border with Armenia, the “Zangezur Corridor”, Zangelan will actually become the only region of our country that will have a border checkpoint with two neighboring countries. See how important it is. Because it is simultaneously both the East-West corridor, a road that stretches from Nakhijevan through Turkey to Europe, and the North-South corridor, from Zangelan through Aghbend to Iran and the Persian Gulf, and from here through Nakhijevan and Julfa, back to the Persian Gulf. Thus, Zangelan will become an irreplaceable international center. This is how we see it, and this is exactly how it will be, because all our plans have come to life so far.”

In other words, during the 44-day war, the capture of Kovsakan, on which day? is noted October 20, 2020, was also of strategic and political significance for Aliyev.

It should be noted that in the 44-day war of 2020, the rapid reaction forces of the State Border Guard Service of Azerbaijan also took part in the operations to capture Jrakan (Jebrayil), Varanda (Fizuli), Zangelan (Kovsakan).

On one occasion we wrote also that the unit of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Azerbaijan (“Yarasa”) also participated in the 2020 war. During the 44-day military operations, “Yarasa” personnel operated in the rear of the Armenian army and participated in the capture of settlements, particularly in the Kubatli (Orotan) sector.

Moreover, the capture of Kovsakan was preceded by the ceasefire of October 18, 2020, in fact, at the mediation of the French side and President Macron, which was also not observed.

About this in June 2023 in the investigative committee it was details to report Nikol Pashinyan, noting:

«On October 17, French President Emmanuel Macron took the initiative and informed me that the President of Azerbaijan agrees to establish a ceasefire without preconditions from midnight on October 18. I naturally agreed to it. after which, within a few hours, the following statement was agreed between France, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was published late in the evening of October 17. “The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to establish a humanitarian ceasefire on October 18, at 00:00 local time.

Regarding this announcement, even before publication, we had consultations with our Russian partners, who welcomed the initiative.

Contrary to the announcement, however, no ceasefire was established on October 18 either, despite the fact that throughout the day we made all possible diplomatic efforts to stop the war. In other words, after this announcement, there was no pause at all.”

Then Pashinyan continued during his questioning at the investigative commission.

“With the failure of another cease-fire announcement, I returned to the conversation I had with the President of the Russian Federation on October 16. On the afternoon of October 19, I had a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, where he reaffirmed that it is still possible to try to stop the war under the conditions of the Russian plan developed years ago. And the condition is as follows: the 7 regions are returned in the 5 2 format, the issue of connection between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia through the Lachin Corridor is resolved, Russian peacekeepers are stationed in Karabakh, the status of Karabakh remains undefined, and the issue remains uncertain for the future…

In the evening, I called and told the Russian president that I am ready to stop the war under such conditions. The President of Russia said that he would talk to the President of Azerbaijan and call me. At that time, two of the 5 regions in question, Fizuli and Jebrail, were practically completely or mostly under the control of Azerbaijan.

The Russian president called the next day, on the morning of October 20. And, in fact, conveyed the following. Azerbaijan is ready to stop the war, but expects to get all 7 regions in return, or rather the remaining 5 regions, because two of them, Fizuli and Jebrayil, as I said, were already under their control. But this was not all.

It was on this day that the most discussed and criticized episode after November 9, 2020 appeared, that there was an opportunity to stop the war while Shushi remained under Armenian control, but I missed it.”

As a result, the RA authorities do not keep Shush, the “disputed” regions go to Azerbaijan, and Kelbajar, Aghdam, Lachin are surrendered according to the November 9 document, the army kept them. In other words, before the war, Pashinyan refuses to hand over the 5 regions so that they don’t say he is a traitor, and in the context of the war, Azerbaijan gets more, even what the army was able to keep.

Let us add that Kovsakan was liberated in the fall of 1993. On November 1, 1993, the Armenian armed forces established final control over the Zangelan regional center and surrounding settlements, which were included in the Azerbaijani SSR, and thus completed the completion of the southern and southeastern borders of Artsakh and Syunik.

And after the 44-day war, in 2022, Aliyev and Erdogan were officially the international airport in the occupied Kovskakan. to open 

By the way, months ago we wrote that Aliyev approved the changes in the law “On Expropriation of Land for State Needs”.

According to the approved amendments, the expansion of state-owned airports and aerodromes, as well as the construction of new airports and aerodromes, have been added to the list of state needs for which land expropriation can be carried out.

Naturally, Aliyev’s decision regarding airports and ports has an important component of the “big game” of transport and logistics.

Let’s go back to Aliyev’s visit to occupied Kovsa. He hinted that it was not advisable to continue the 44-day war after taking Shushi.

«Stopping the war allowed us to get back the regions of Kelbajar, Lachin and Aghdam without bloodshed, by political means, in fact, by ultimatum. And the ultimatum was this: Armenia must withdraw its troops from those territories in a short time, within 1 month, otherwise they will be destroyed.” the leader of Azerbaijan emphasized.

And this is when on other occasions the same Aliyev admitted that one of the main reasons for stopping the 44-day war was to avoid large casualties, because if the 44-day war is extended, the districts of Kelbajar, Karvachar and Lachin, Kashatagh in winter weather conditions it was going to be very difficult to capture especially Karvacharin.

And how the Armenian side succeeded in liberating these territories, as well as Shush, during the first Artsakh war, which no get around during the “trial” in Baku, which has already ended, Aliyev justified the treacherous actions of the Azerbaijani authorities during the first war in occupied Kovsakan.

“In 1993, not only our territorial integrity was threatened, but also our independence. The people in charge at that time were leading the country to destruction. The Armenians’ “occupation” of our lands, Shushi, Lachin and Kelbajar (quotes: M.P.), internal divisions, arbitrariness, anarchy, as well as the civil war situation as a result of the provocative and treacherous actions of the authorities at that time, had practically brought the independent Azerbaijani state to the brink of collapse,” Aliyev insisted and continued.

«During the first war, the people leading our army not only did not know what military work is, but also their treacherous actions led to the “occupation of our lands” (quotes: M.P.).

The coward and the traitor who said “if Shushi is lost, I will shoot myself in the forehead” is still wandering somewhere (referring to the former Minister of Defense Rahim Ghaziyev).

In other words, our misfortune at that time was that such people held key positions in Azerbaijan. People without knowledge, ability and work experience, who literally came from the street or were brought, were assigned to the first, second, third and fourth positions. Our army was actually in the hands of criminals.”

Yes, during the first Artsakh war, the Armenian forces carried out exceptional operations and showed exceptional heroism.

Yes, Aliyev has a problem to emphasize the personal factor in the Azerbaijani victory in the 44-day war against the background of the political actions and incompetence of the Azerbaijani government in the first war.

On the other hand, there may be a grain of truth in the last statement, but it is another question that when accusing the Armenian side of the “Khojalu Genocide”, which happened this time as well, Aliyev does not try to enter into the political developments prevailing in Azerbaijan at that time, it is not beneficial.

On February 26, 1992, the self-defense forces of Artsakh, thanks to a brilliant operation, liberated Khojalu (Ivanyan), the second most important military base in Artsakh after Shushi, from the enemy.

The military operation was carried out in order to unblock the airport of Stepanakert near the village of Khojalu (Ivanyan) and neutralize the Azerbaijani firing points located in the village.

And before the military operation, in order to safely remove the local population, the Armenians informed not only about the upcoming operations, but also the civilian population was informed about the corridor through which they could and should go to Aghdam through the valley of the Karkar River, which was controlled by the Azerbaijanis. In other words, the Azeri side is responsible for the murders of Azerbaijanis in that area, as the former president of Azerbaijan, Ayaz Mutalibov, once admitted: ““Khojalu” organized the People’s Front of Azerbaijan. who later had to resign.

On May 10, Aliyev accused Armenia and the Armenian armed forces of targeting peaceful settlements during the 2020 war in Kovsakan under Azerbaijani control. in delivering missile strikes from “Iskander” and “Scud”, which was also a subject of discussion during the “trial” against the former military-political leadership of Artsakh.

In other words, Aliyev did not back down from the military accusations directed at Armenia, and Nikol Pashinyan in his pre-election statements “reports” and “testifies” against Armenia in the event that he himself was declared the commander-in-chief of the 44-day war.

Of course, he can try to justify himself by saying, “I didn’t know,” the military leadership “decided to attack the peaceful settlements of Azerbaijan.”

Do you think something like this won’t happen… As for why we lost, this time let’s be satisfied with the above description of Aliyev, the former leadership of Azerbaijan, there were quite a few things in common. And that is why Aliyev wants Pashinyan’s power not to go away, because in this case there is no need for vigilance, which will be necessary in the case of “revanchist forces”.

—