Great Return

Bread Museum in Aghdam. It was built in 1983 but was destroyed during Armenian occupation of the city

Karabakh was also known as a beautiful tourism zone with delightful nature and recreation areas. The resorts and health centers located in the region were attracting visitors from across the world.
The historical part of Shusha was declared historical- architectural reserve on the initiative of Azerbaijani na- tional leader Heydar Aliyev in 1977. Strides were further taken to boost the development of tourism in the city.
The historical, cultural and natural abundance creat- ed and cherished by the Azerbaijani people in Karabakh for centuries had been subjected to unprecedented aggression and vandalism during the Armenian occu- pation in 1992-2020. Acts of vandalism were regularly committed against the Azerbaijani historical-cultural heritage during this time period, which also saw the displacement of about a million Azerbaijanis by Arme- nia. Moreover, the homes of the evicted people were plundered, dozens of cites and settlements and hun- dreds of villages were razed to the ground. The invad- ers destroyed over 20 museums featuring up to 40,000 exhibits. Scores of valuable samples, paintings and sculptures, keepsakes of prominent personalities and other exhibits pertaining to Azerbaijani history and cul- ture were stolen from those museums. While looting residential areas, the enemy appropriated hundreds of Azerbaijani carpets, sold many of these items in foreign markets and completely destroyed, misappropriated or changed the purpose of ancient monuments.
“There have been many wars and destruction world- wide in the history of mankind, but in my opinion, such vandalism and devastation taking place in the 20th cen- tury and the deliberate destruction of cities and villages is unprecedented. This is barbarity, cultural genocide.” This is a statement from the Azerbaijani President and it is the truth.
Armenia displayed particular ruthlessness in deal- ing with the Azerbaijani cultural legacy in the occupied land. The objective behind these actions was to wipe out the entire cultural heritage created by Azerbaijanis over many centuries along with all traces of their history and existence in these territories.
President Ilham Aliyev repeatedly stated in his speeches that Azerbaijan would never reconcile to the occupation of its territory and liberation of its native land at any cost was the paramount task and objective for the country. In addition to holding talks brokered by international mediators, an emphasis was placed on building Azerbaijan’s armed forces and improving their logistics and combat readiness. The Azerbaijani army was ready to restore the country’s territorial integrity in accordance with an order of the Supreme Commander- In-Chief. Finally, the day has come and Azerbaijan de- clared to the whole wide world that it would no longer tolerate invading Armenia’s persistent provocations. The powerful and victorious Azerbaijani army taught a his- toric lesson to the invader under the leadership of the