17 years passed since Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijan's Fuzuli and Jabrail regions

Today marks 17th anniversary of occupation of Azerbaijan's Fuzuli and Jabrail regions by the Armenian Armed Forces.

On 23 Aug., 1993, 51 villages and center of Fuzuli region were seized by the Armenian troops forcing more than 55,000 people to flee their homes.

Fuzuli covers the territory from the southeastern slopes of Karabakh mountain range till the Araz River. It borders with Azerbaijan's Khojavand, Jabrail, Agjabadi, Beylagan regions and with Iran along the Araz River.

The territory of the region covers 1,386 sq.km with the population totalling nearly 105,000 people. Some 13 settlements and 20 villages of the region were liberated later. Twelve of the settlements were reconstructed after liberation and families of internally displaced persons were temporarily settled there. At present 51,000 IDPs reside on this territory.

Fuzuli region was subject to the constant attacks by Armenians since the early 1988. As a result of occupation, more than 1,100 Fuzuli residents lost lives, 113 people were taken prisoners and 1,450 people were disabled.

As a result seizure of Jabrail region, which covers a territory of 1,050 sq.km, 72 secondary schools, eight hospitals, five mosques, two museums, 129 historical monuments and 149 cultural centers were left in the occupated lands.

Nearly 61,100 IDPs from Jabrail region have settled in more than 2,000 settlemets in 58 regions across the country.

The natural resources of Azerbaijan's occupied Fuzuli region are being destroyed, the Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry reported on Saturday.

The ministry's task force supervising the devastating effects to environment and natural resources in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan has identified a number of facts of destruction of natural resources by Armenians in the region.

Armenians have cut down all the trees in the Dovlatyarli village located in a forest zone, destroyed green spaces along the roads in the Gochahmadli and Yaglivand villages and have burned more than 35,000 hectares of land in 2006-2009.


/Trend/