Exactly a year ago, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan's Patriotic War began. On that day, Armenia's occupying forces subjected the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the front line and the adjacent populated areas in Azerbaijan to intensive fire with the use of large-calibre weapons, artillery and mortars. Baku decided to launch a counter-offensive operation to ensure the safety of the civilian population. Vestnik Kavkaza offers its readers to follow the events of the 44 days of Azerbaijan's Patriotic War as they were covered a year ago.
On the sixteenth day of the war, October 12, the Armenian occupation troops continued shelling the front-line settlements of Azerbaijan and attempted to re-capture the positions from which they had been driven out earlier by the liberation Azerbaijani army. Armenian drones were destroyed while trying to cross the border and the front line.
Italy condemned Armenia's war crimes, the U.S. drew the first conclusions about the nature of hostilities in the 21st century on the basis of the Patriotic War of Azerbaijan. The Iranian Foreign Ministry stressed that the occupied lands of Azerbaijan must be de-occupied.
Azerbaijan organized a trip for representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations to Ganja and Mingachevir, which were attacked by Armenia. Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged Yerevan's territorial claims against Georgia.
The Armenian Foreign Minister, arriving in Moscow the day after the terrorist attack in Ganja, where an Armenian medium-range missile killed ten people, complained to his Russian colleague about Azerbaijan's violation of the ceasefire. The Russian Foreign Minister, in response, urged not to drag out the peace talks. The Kremlin stressed the fundamental importance of observing the ceasefire agreements.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed Baku's commitment to the implementation of agreements that were violated by Armenia. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has published the video footage from Suleymanli village of Jabrayil district liberated from the occupation. ANAS said that most of the historical and cultural monuments in the occupied lands were destroyed.
The Russian Foreign Ministry disclosed the details of the armistice talks that took place three days earlier. In the evening, a telephone conversation between the heads of the Prosecutor General's Offices of Russia and Azerbaijan took place. The head of the Federation Council, in turn, phoned the speakers of the parliaments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the Russian defense minister - with his Turkish counterpart. Finally, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation spoke with representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Late in the evening, video footage of the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Ganja was published by Russian media outlets.
Thus, on the sixteenth day of the war, the Azerbaijani army continued to advance towards Fizuli and drive out the invaders from the villages of the Jebrail region, which were trying to re-occupy the liberated lands. The intensity of shelling of Azerbaijani settlements decreased after the terrorist attack in Ganja on the eve of the Armenian Foreign Minister's visit to Moscow. The diplomatic work of the Russian authorities intensified to restore the ceasefire regime, which was officially introduced two days earlier, but lasted less than half an hour.
