Khankendi, 24 years under Armenian occupation

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

24 years have passed since the complete occupation of Khankendi city in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Armenian invaders occupied Nagorno-Karabakh’s center Khankendi and its Kerkijahan settlement, which had significant strategic importance for surrounding areas, in 1991. By the capture of the Kerkijahan settlement on December 28, occupation of Khankendi completed.

Defense of Kerkijahan was organized by self-defense units formed from villagers, the newly established group of military police and the National Army of Azerbaijan.

As a result of Armenians' attack with military vehicles and heavy weapons, those who defended Kerkijahan had to retreat. Azerbaijani families who had suffered Armenia's attacks left Khankendi and took refuge in Aghdam, Shusha, Khojaly, and other neighboring regions of the country.

As a result of the occupation of Kerkijahan by the Armenian armed groups, 34 of 1796 habitants of the village, including 3 women and 2 babies, were killed and more than 150 people were wounded. Two high schools, a kindergarten, library, club, ATC, 10 shops, a clinic, 15 manufacturing plants and other objects of everyday life were destroyed in Kerkijahan.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, more than 4,000 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.