On Thursday, December 10, a victory parade dedicated to Victory in the Patriotic War has been held at Azadlig Square, Baku. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, first lady Mehriban Aliyeva, President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan attended the Victory parade.
This was reported by the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense on its official website.
The parade featured more than 3,000 personnel, about 150 military hardware, including the state-of-the-art military equipment, missiles and artillery systems, air defense systems, as well as warships and boats. The parade also featured part of the military booty seized by the Azerbaijani Army from the destroyed enemy during the Patriotic War. A military orchestra played the “Azerbaijan fanfare” and national anthems of the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev made a speech at the parade. President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan then addressed the parade.
The war over Nagorno-Karabakh, known in Azerbaijan as the Patriotic War, lasted 44 days. According to official data, Azerbaijan lost 2,783 soldiers - 4 times less than during the first Karabakh war of 1992-1994. Armenia lost 2,718 people. As a result of this war, Azerbaijan not only regained the control over the territories of and around Nagorno-Karabakhwbish it lost in the 1990s, but the state also ensured the creation of a corridor between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan autonomy.
“Everyone knows that the Armenian leadership said a year ago that “Karabakh is Armenia and full stop”. I said, “Karabakh is Azerbaijan and exclamation mark”. Today, the whole world sees that Karabakh is Azerbaijan! Karabakh is ours! Karabakh is Azerbaijan! Long live the Azerbaijani Army! Long live Turkish-Azerbaijani friendship and brotherhood! Long live Azerbaijani soldiers!” – Ilham Aliyev concluded his speech.
As was reported by "Apostrophe", on the night of November 10, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced the signing of a peaceful agreement together with the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia in order to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him, it was an extremely difficult decision. This document was perceived in Yerevan as a capitulation, which turned into mass protests and rebellions.