Due to its geographical location and natural resources, Azerbaijan has been constantly attacked by occupying states throughout history. Starting from the most ancient times, the Assyrians, Achaemenids, Alexander the Great, Romans, Sassanids, Arabs, Mongols, and Timurids have made occupying attacks on our lands. Our people have always fought against the invaders and managed to protect the integrity of our territory. However, since the 19th century, our lands have been occupied by Tsarist Russia and the Qajar state, which took advantage of the fragmentation of the territory of Azerbaijan into small khanates. In 1813 and 1828, our lands were divided between Russia and Iran against the will of our people with the Gulustan and Turkmenchay treaties. After the Turkmenchay treaty, Tsarist Russia, in order to change the ethnic landscape of the region and strengthen its foothold, relocated more than 1 million Armenians from Iran and Turkey to the South Caucasus throughout the 19th century. Thus, the foundation of Armenia's hostility towards Azerbaijan, which has a history of more than 200 years, mass terror and genocide were laid. The Azerbaijani people went through terrible stages of genocide in 1905-1906 and 1918. Along with changing the demographic landscape of the region, Armenian religious and ideological expansion was also encouraged.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Armenian chauvinists created nationalist parties such as "Armenakan", "Hnchak" and "Dashnaktsutyun" and began to prepare the ground for the implementation of the idea of a "great Armenia from sea to sea" through armed struggle and terror. In 1905–1906, as well as in 1918, Azerbaijanis were massacred by Armenians in Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Karabakh, Zangezur, Goycha and other places, cities and villages were burned, children, women and the elderly were killed with unparalleled cruelty. Tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis who managed to escape from Armenian barbarity were forced to leave their native lands. The territories cleared of Azerbaijanis were incorporated into the Republic of Armenia, which declared its independence in 1918. After the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia and Azerbaijan, another part of Azerbaijani lands, including Western Zangezur, was incorporated into Armenia by the Bolshevik regime, as a result of which its territory was increased from 9.8 thousand square kilometers to 29.8 thousand square kilometers.

The policy of hostility towards Azerbaijanis continued during the years of Soviet rule. While the hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who remained in the territory of Armenia and lived in their ancestral lands for fifty years were not granted autonomy, the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region” was organized for Armenians in the territory of Azerbaijan. With the help of the USSR leadership, the ruling circles of the Armenian SSR achieved the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Armenia in 1948–1953. A sharp campaign of moral aggression was carried out against Azerbaijanis. Over the past hundred years, several generations of the Armenian people have been brought up in the spirit of national exclusivity. Through the efforts of Armenian “scholars”, the history of the region has been falsified, the non-existent history of the Armenian state has been fabricated, and the events taking place in the South Caucasus have been deliberately distorted. As a result of the ethnic cleansing policy and war of aggression that Armenia began in 1988 and expanded in 1992 to implement its territorial claims against Azerbaijan, 20 percent of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan has been occupied, and more than 1 million Azerbaijanis have been expelled from the territory of Armenia and the occupied regions of Azerbaijan. Serious criminal acts stemming from national hatred and hostility were committed against Azerbaijanis, the Khojaly genocide, one of the most terrible tragedies of the 20th century, and a number of other massacres were committed.

After the ceasefire was declared on the front line between Armenia and Azerbaijan in May 1994 in order to create conditions for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, all the activities of the Armenian leadership were aimed not at resolving the conflict, but at consolidating the results of the occupation. The UN Security Council resolutions No. 822, 853, 874 and 884 adopted in 1993, which unequivocally affirmed the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan and demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, as well as the UN General Assembly resolution No. 62/243 adopted in 2008, and the resolutions adopted in various years by the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and other international organizations, were ignored. The negotiations conducted through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, established to resolve the conflict, were used to formalize the results of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands in one way or another, and if this was not possible, to prolong the time.

The Armenian leadership, taking advantage of its impunity, has made attempts to disrupt the peace process once and for all. Armenian officials have proven with their statements and behavior that this state is not only not preparing to return the occupied territories and achieve a just peace, but on the contrary, intends to occupy new territories of Azerbaijan. The expansion of the policy of illegal settlement in the occupied territories, attempts to change the format of the negotiations, the claims of the Armenian Defense Minister of “a new war for new territories”, and other statements and actions have revealed the true intentions of the leadership of the occupying state.

For decades, the leadership of the Azerbaijani state has declared that the Republic of Azerbaijan can never agree to the usurpation of its sovereignty in part of its territory, the plundering and expropriation of its lands, and will use all opportunities to achieve the restoration of its territorial integrity.

Thus, the beginning of the path to historical victory was laid by the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. Our esteemed President Ilham Aliyev has successfully continued the path begun by the Great Leader towards building a powerful Azerbaijani state with great economic and military power, the Azerbaijani army has been provided with the most modern weapons and military equipment, all necessary measures have been taken to increase the combat capability of the personnel, and to raise their moral and psychological spirit. Also, the unity of our people around their leader played an important role in ensuring the historic victory.

On September 27, 2020, after another act of aggression by the Armenian armed forces, the Republic of Azerbaijan, using the right of self-defense granted by the UN Charter, launched a counter-offensive operation with the aim of forcing the aggressor to peace and ending the occupation of Azerbaijani lands.

Under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have achieved amazing victories in the 44-day Patriotic War and written new glorious pages in the history of world military. The Patriotic War, which began on September 27, 2020, was the brightest and most glorious stage of our country's struggle to restore its territorial integrity, inflicting heavy blows on the occupying forces, destroying a large number of their manpower and military equipment. A large part of the occupied territory of our country, including the Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Zangilan, Gubadli regions, Hadrut and Sugovushan settlements, and about 300 settlements in general, were liberated.

One of the glorious pages of the Patriotic War was the day on November 8 when Shusha, the pearl and crown of Karabakh and the cradle of Azerbaijani culture, was liberated from captivity. The liberation of Shusha played a decisive role in the fate of the war. In this 44-day war, the Azerbaijani Army liberated the Armenian-occupied Karabakh lands. With the trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020, Armenia accepted its defeat and Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity and historical justice. This victory, as a result of the unity of the people, the strength of the army and state policy, went down in history as the “Karabakh Victory”.

By the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated December 3, 2020, taking into account the historical significance of the liberation of the city of Shusha from occupation, November 8 is solemnly celebrated in our country every year as “Victory Day”.

Karabakh is Azerbaijan!