Azerbaijani FM threatens to 'liberate occupied territories'

On the 27th anniversary since battle of Kubatlu (Gubadly), a region liberated by Armenia during the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) war for independence and freedom, Azerbaijan's minister of foreign affairs has voiced his menacing tone over "liberating all occupied Azerbaijani territories".

"27 years without Gubadly. The district was occupied on 31 August 1993 by armed forces of Armenia, and the Azerbaijani population was ethnically cleansed. All the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including Gubadly, will be liberated, and local Azerbaijanis will return to their homes!", Jeyhun Bayramov wrote in his Twitter microblog.

27 years without #Gubadly. The
district occupied on 31 August 1993 by armed forces of #Armenia & Azerbaijani population were ethnically cleansed.
All occupied territories of #Azerbaijan, including Gubadly will be liberated & local Azerbaijanis will return to their homes! pic.twitter.com/2uHXa8m8J0

— Jeyhun Bayramov (@bayramov_jeyhun) August 31, 2020

The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 when the Armenian majority of the then autonomous region declared its intention to break away from Azerbaijan. In a referendum held on December 10, 1991 (days before the collapse of the USSR), the population voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence (99.89%). The move was followed by Azerbaijan’s large-scale military operations against Nagorno-Karabakh and seven neighboring regions. The armed violence left around 25,000-30,000 people dead; thousands were internally displaced. The Ceasefire Accord, which went into effect in May 1994, formally put an end to the armed attacks in the conflict zone, but sporadic fighting in the area breaks out time and again. Since 1994, the OSCE Minsk Group, a mission co-chaired by France, the United States and Russia, has been spearheading the efforts towards  a peaceful solution to the conflict. .

The hostilities escalated to an unprecedented degree in April 2016 in what was later dubbed a Four-Day War. In the early hours of April 1, 2016, Azerbaijan's armed forces launched heavy offensives along the Line of Contact,  provoking large-scale confrontations with the Defense Army of Nagorno-Kkarabakh. The adversary also shelled civilian settlements, particularly the southern and north-eastern regions of Hadrut and Marakert.

A ceasefire was reached on 5 April between the chiefs of the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow. The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities also welcomed the verbal agreement.