Today marks 25 years since the day of the occupation of Kalbajar by Armenia. On this day, the Armenian Armed Forces, after carrying out a large-scale military operation on March 27th, 1993, occupied Kalbajar.
Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement on the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar region and the anniversary of the 2016 April escalation.
"As part of war unleashed by Armenia against Azerbaijan and Armenia’s systematic policy of aggression and occupation against Azerbaijan on April 2, 1993 Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan was occupied by armed forces of Armenia. Kalbajar is located beyond administrative boundaries of Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and offensive operation to occupy Kalbajar was mainly carried out from the territory of Armenia by use of heavy weaponry, Mi-24 helicopter gunships and advanced fixed wing aircraft," the statement says.
As a result of occupation, 511 innocent civilians were killed, 321 people were taken hostage or missing. During the hostilities, 55 soldiers were killed. The Armenian side took control of 132 settlements, more than 500 industrial, construction and trade objects, catering and consumer service companies, 97 schools, 76 health facilities were destroyed. 53,340 residents of Kalbajar became internally displaced persons.
Presently, more than 70,000 Kalbajar residents are living in many different districts of Azerbaijan as internally displaced people. Armenian occupation inflicted a damage to the Kalbajar region in the volume of $761 million.
Predatory exploitation of natural mineral resources of Kalbajar is also being carried out. Base Metals CJSC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Armenia's Vallex Group CJSC, registered in Liechtenstein, since 2000 has been exploiting Gyzylbulag underground copper-gold mine near Heyvaly village in the occupied Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan. Predatory exploitation of that mine led to its almost complete depletion. Since 2007, GPM Gold, a subsidiary of GeoProMining Ltd., has been extracting ore in Soyudlu gold mine in the occupied Kalbajar district. The construction of the Vardenis-Aghdara highway through the occupied Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan, is directly linked to gaining access to the areas in the occupied territories rich in natural resources and to facilitate exporting goods and minerals out of the occupied territories to Armenia and international markets. As a result of predatory and illegal exploitation of mineral resources of Kalbajar serious damage has been inflicted on the environment.
Following the statement of United Nations Security Council President on April 6, 1993 UNSC adopted resolution of 822 with regard to the occupation of Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan. UN Security Council Resolution 822 reaffirmed the principle of "the inadmissibility of the use of force for the acquisition of territory" and demanded immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Kalbadjar district and other recently occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
