Turkey's communications director hails Azerbaijan's Victory Day

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's communications director on Monday congratulated Azerbaijan on its first Victory Day, which commemorates the liberation of a key city in Nagorno-Karabakh from nearly 30 years of illegal Armenian occupation.

"Sharing the same sadness and joy, we have always walked shoulder to shoulder with the spirit of two states and one nation," Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter, referring to the Turkish-Azerbaijani motto, “One nation, two states.”

"Last year today, this march was crowned with a blessed victory. Greetings to our Karabakh, which our Azerbaijani brothers liberated with a great spirit of resistance," Altun added.

He also posted a video marking the importance of the day and strong ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

On Dec. 3, 2020, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree establishing Victory Day on Nov. 8.

Shusha, Azerbaijan's cultural and historical capital, was liberated last fall after 28 years of Armenian occupation.

During the 44-day conflict, which ended with a Russian-brokered truce in November 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several strategic cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from Armenian occupation.

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

A joint Turkish-Russian center was established to monitor the post-war truce.