Azerbaijani leader visits lands freed from occupation

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Azerbaijan’s president and first lady on Monday visited territories recently liberated from nearly three decades of Armenian occupation, according to the Azerbaijani Presidency.

Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva, who is also the country’s first vice president, visited Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts along with the cities of Fuzuli and Jabrayil.

Aliyeva also shared several short video clips on her Instagram page of the president driving a car in the liberated territories, mainly near the border with Iran and the Aras River.

Hikmet Hajiyev, an assistant to Azerbaijan’s president, also shared footage of Aliyev on Twitter.

"President Ilham Aliyev and 1st Lady Mehriban Aliyeva are in centre of Jabrayil after liberation. Everything razed to ground. Magnitude of Armenia's vandalism is beyond any imagination. President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that all-out reconstruction work will be conducted," he said.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted on Sept. 27 and the Armenian army continued its attacks on civilian and Azerbaijani forces, even violating three humanitarian cease-fire agreements for 44 days.

Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from Armenian occupation in the past few weeks.

On Nov. 10, the two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution. ​​​​​​​

Turkey welcomed the truce as a "great victory" for Azerbaijan.