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 war's thirty-first day, October 27, the occupying forces of Armenia were trying all night to re-seize the territories liberated from them. Terter and neighboring villages continued to be targeted by artillery strikes. One of the anti-tank missiles fired by the invaders hit the car with Euronews reporters.
The head of the main grouping of the occupation forces in Karabakh was dismissed after information about his death. Later, the head of the Armenian counterintelligence service was dismissed. The Armenian Defense Ministry recognized the violation of the first, second and third truce by the Armenian troops. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, in turn, stressed that Azerbaijani troops respond to provocations from the Armenian side.
Baku drew the attention of international organizations to the use of children in hostilities by the invaders. The results of the first month of the war were summed up: the liberation of four cities and hundreds of villages, the war crimes of Armenia against the civilian population of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied the fake news about strikes on Armenian territory.
In an interview with Rai-1, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed that he sees Karabakh as the land of peace, where Azerbaijanis and Armenians live side by side. He also denied the participation of the Turkish military in the war.
In Jabrayil, a monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War destroyed by the invaders was discovered. Yerevan reported on sending hundreds of border guards to the front, of which 37 have already been killed. By this time, blood supplies for the invaders wounded at the front were depleted in Armenia. The number of officially recognized losses of the invaders has exceeded one thousand.
The Kremlin stressed that the involvement of third countries in the conflict settlement will be possible only on the condition of consent from Azerbaijan and Armenia. In turn, Baku recalled that ending the war was possible after the withdrawal of the occupation troops from Azerbaijan. Tehran has planned the Deputy Foreign Minister's visit to Moscow for talks on an Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement, promising to present an "Iranian plan."
It was estimated that during the month of the war, Armenia lost in battles or abandoned military equipment worth $2.7 billion, which is the size of the republic's six-year military budget.
After 16:00, the Terter, Goranboy and Barda regions of Azerbaijan were hit by cluster munitions. Several shells killed the civilians of Barda. In total, four bardiners died in this terrorist attack, including a seven-year-old girl. Evidence was presented that these were Smerch MLRS missiles with cluster warheads.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey called on not to allow the participation of foreign militants in the Patriotic War of Azerbaijan. Later, negotiations were held between the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. U.S. President Donald Trump said he was disappointed with the collapse of the third truce.
Thus, on the thirty-first day of the war, Armenia, having lost control over the troops, having lost or thrown almost $3 billion worth of equipment and ammunition on the battlefield, focused on new terrorist attacks against the civilian population of Azerbaijan. Now the target of the Armenian terrorists was the city of Barda; four civilians, including a child, were killed in the first terrorist attack. It was less than two weeks until the end of the war.
