By Azernews

By Aisha Jabbarova

President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have inaugurated new projects in Fuzuli district after its liberation from the Armenian occupation in the last year’s war.

Fuzuli district and its center Fuzuli city were completely destroyed during the years of occupation since 1993.

The Head of State and the First Lady viewed construction progress at Fuzuli International Airport whose runway is expected to be completed by late 2021.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the airport’s construction took place back on 14 January when Aliyev visited the district.

Moreover, the President and First Lady visited Ashaghi Kondalanchay reservoir in Fuzuli district and also viewed the work done on the Ahmadbayli-Fuzuli-Shusha highway and Victory road that are under construction.

During the same visit, they attended the inauguration of the newly built 110/35/10 kV substation “Fuzuli” substation.

Moreover, the president laid a foundation stone for a tunnel to be constructed on Ahmadbayli-Fuzuli-Shusha highway passing through a part of the territory of Dashalti village.

Home to some 144,000 Azerbaijanis, Fuzuli was occupied by the Armenian army in 1993. Fuzuli city was completely destroyed during the occupation.

Over 1,100 people were killed in Fuzuli the 1990s by Armenian forces. Around 1,500 people were injured in Fuzuli in attacks by Armenian forces, while 155 children lost their parents.

Fuzuli, along with 300 Azerbaijani city centers, villages, settlements and historic Shusha city was liberated by the Azerbaijani Army during the 44-day-war with Armenia in autumn 2020.  

After the signing of the November 10 trilateral statement, Azerbaijan also regained control over its Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions that were occupied during the war in the early 1990s.

Below is the speech of the President:

- This is the Kondalanchay reservoir. It was in the hands of the enemy for many years. For many years, we were deprived of this water. After the second Karabakh war, it is already in our hands and will serve the interests of the Azerbaijani people. This reservoir was built on the instructions and initiative of great leader Heydar Aliyev in the early 1980s. Its primary objective was to develop agriculture in Fizuli district, as thousands of hectares of land were irrigated from this reservoir. As a result of the Patriotic war, we now control both the Sugovushan and the Kondalanchay reservoirs. Relevant instructions have already been issued for the future operation of these reservoirs.

A map of water sources in all our liberated lands is being developed now. All our water resources, rivers, lakes, reservoirs – all this wealth is in our hands now. In order to use this water efficiently, funds have already been allocated for the construction of new canals and the restoration of old ones. Relevant instructions have been issued and an extensive program launched.

Some time ago, I sent a group of specialist to the Kondalanchay reservoir. The condition of this reservoir has been assessed, and, of course, we will use this water when life returns to these areas. During the occupation, the contemptible enemy deprived us of water. Since the Sarsang reservoir and the Sugovushan reservoir were in the hands of the enemy, 100,000 hectares of land were left without water. For this reason, hundreds of artesian wells were drilled in a number of districts to improve water supply. Aghdam, Tartar, Barda, Yevlakh, Goranboy and other districts were deprived of water from the Tartar River. I was recently informed that more than 30,000 hectares of land were supplied with water from the Sugovushan reservoir after the Patriotic war. At the same time, the Khachinchay reservoir in Aghdam district is also under our control. It has been liberated from occupation. In fact, that reservoir is larger in size than this one. I want to say again that all our water resources are being evaluated and analyzed and will give us a great advantage in the future.

We have returned to our native lands, we have returned to Fuzuli. The Kondalanchay reservoir is in our hands and this will be the case forever.