Assistant to Azerbaijani President, Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev commented on the statement of Reporters Without Borders about the impossibility for 80 local and foreign journalists to safely leave Khankendi city for Armenia because of the road’s closure.
According to him, Armenia itself reported about the road’s closure. "There are two roads from Khankendi to Armenia: one is through the territory of the occupied Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan to the Vardenis city of Armenia, and the other - through the Lachin corridor. According to the latest data, both of the roads are under the control of the Armenian Armed Forces," Hajiyev added.
The Armenian armed forces committed a large-scale provocation, subjecting the positions of the Azerbaijani army to intensive shelling from large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery installations of various calibers in the front-line zone on Sept. 27 at 05:00 (Msk). The command of the Azerbaijani Army decided to launch a counter-offensive operation of Azerbaijani troops along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population. To date, Fizuli and Jabrayil districts, including the cities of Jabrayil and Fizuli, the city of Zangilan and part of Zangilan district, part of the Gubaldi region, the city of Gubadli, the city of Hadrut, and a number of villages in the Khojavend region, the villages of Sugovushan and Talish in the Terter region, as well as the strategically important Murovdag mountain were liberated.
