Baku, Azerbaijan, July 23
Today, 21 years pass since the occupation of Azerbaijan's Aghdam region by Armenia.
Armenian invaders occupied the major part of the Aghdam region on July 23, 1993. The Armenian aggressors seized around 882 sq km of 1,094 sq km territory of Aghdam, one city and 80 villages. Some 128,000 people have become internally displaced persons with 17,000 of them being adults.
As a result of occupation of Aghdam, Azerbaijan underwent a material damage worth of $6.179 billion. The damage only to the region's agriculture is estimated at 992.8 million AZN. Over 6,000 people died during the fights in Aghdam.
At present, the population growth of Aghdam is 10 percent. IDPs of Aghdam have been settled in Azerbaijan's 59 regions.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency