September 27 — enduring symbol of national will and sacrifice

That morning began differently for all of us - adults and children, the elderly and women alike. On that day, all of us, young and old, were people of Karabakh. From Shirvan to Lankaran, from Guba to Nakhchivan, from Ganja to Shaki, from Baku to Karabakh - it was a day when all of Azerbaijan united as one fist.

September 27, 2020... The day Azerbaijan restored justice itself!

At the end of the 20th century, amid the political and military turmoil that emerged in the region following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan's Karabakh region and several surrounding districts were occupied by Armenia. Azerbaijan effectively lost control of 20 percent of its territory, while around one million people were displaced from their homes.

In the following years, Azerbaijan made various efforts to resolve the conflict on the basis of international law and the principle of territorial integrity. It maintained hope, refused to let that hope fade and waited. Having seen the harshest face of war and witnessed human tragedies on the scale of Khojaly, Bashlybel, Aghdaban and Meshali, Azerbaijan continued to believe that justice would be restored. It believed that these tragedies, so far removed from humanity and committed before the eyes of the entire world, would receive a legal assessment.

However, diplomatic appeals went unanswered. Over the years, they failed to bring about the return of Azerbaijan's historical lands, and the humanitarian and political burden created by the conflict continued to weigh on Azerbaijani society. UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993 demanded the withdrawal of occupying forces from Azerbaijani territories. However, they remained demands that were never implemented in practice.

Thus, by September 2020, Azerbaijan was living with the consequences of the violation of its territorial integrity while also waiting for a tangible outcome from the international mediation process. A situation that had remained unresolved for years, continued tensions and repeated clashes along the frontline made the Patriotic War that began on September 27, 2020, inevitable.

The road to that war was paved not by the pain of a single day or month, but by entire decades.

This war was born out of the failure of years of negotiations, appeals and statements.

It was a war that carried with it the necessity of return for nearly one million people who had lived with the hope of returning to their homeland.

The 44-day war demonstrated a level of national unity that perhaps had never been so clearly visible in the preceding years. While the Azerbaijani Army displayed heroism at the front during those 44 days, the Azerbaijani people demonstrated the same courage and unity behind the lines.

At the political center of this unity were undoubtedly the state and its leadership. Through his decisive political position, President Ilham Aliyev regularly informed the public in his addresses to the nation about the course of the war, the settlements that had been liberated and Azerbaijan's position. In short, the army's military operations at the front, the people's support behind the lines and President Ilham Aliyev"s leadership on the diplomatic front came together in pursuit of a single goal.

The image of the "Iron Fist" of those days expressed precisely this unity - the state, army and people rallying around a common goal.

The 44-day Patriotic War also proved the truth of the saying, "If there are those who die for the land, it is the homeland." Behind every meter advanced by the Azerbaijani Army, behind every liberated village and city, were the blood, lives and bravery of our heroic soldiers. This journey, in which sorrow went hand in hand with joy, had another name - self-sacrifice: the self-sacrifice of the Azerbaijani people, the self-sacrifice of the Azerbaijani Army.

And this journey ended in Shusha, the cradle of culture. The liberation of the city on November 8, 2020, became one of the most important and decisive moments of the Patriotic War. And the Azerbaijani flag flying in Shusha meant that there was no longer a divide between the Karabakh we had spoken of in the past for 30 years and the Karabakh of the present, the Karabakh of today.

Just two days after the liberation of Shusha, on November 10, 2020, the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia signed a trilateral statement, bringing the military operations to an end. The document politically formalized the new reality created by the Azerbaijani Army on the battlefield: the sides would remain in their occupied positions, while Armenia undertook to return the Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.

The document effectively meant Armenia's capitulation. Thus, the military outcome of the 44-day war was formalized through a diplomatic document, while some issues that years of fruitless negotiations had failed to resolve were now set out through specific dates and obligations. On November 20, the Aghdam district; on November 25, the Kalbajar district; and on December 1, the Lachin district were returned to Azerbaijan without a single shot being fired.

And it is precisely as the culmination of all these developments that the essence and historical significance of September 27 become clearer: for a whole, independent, sovereign and strong Azerbaijan, this day embodies national unity, national will and a shared responsibility toward the homeland.

Decades will pass, centuries will pass - yet September 27 will live on in the memory of future generations. It will be remembered as the day of those who gave their lives for the homeland, the Victory won through their self-sacrifice, and the strength of a people who, at the most difficult moment, united around a single goal.

Today, tomorrow, and for all time...