Ilham Aliyev: Armenians destroyed cities not during first Karabakh war, but after it

“As you know, they destroyed the cities not during the war, the first Karabakh war, but after it. They destroyed it systematically within almost 30 years after the first Karabakh war stopped, for several reasons,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said June 23 receiving High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Miguel Angel Moratinos, Report informs referring to AzerTag.

“First, in order to take all these construction materials, because the houses were demolished and the stones were taken away. It was a kind of a robbery. And second, in order not to allow Azerbaijanis to return, because they thought that after this total devastation nobody would return. It is not only in the cities, but also in the villages. If you go in other directions, for example, to Jabrayil, Zangilan or Gubadli – you also visited Fuzuli, the situation is exactly the same. All villages, all cities are destroyed. We need to clear them of mines now and start reconstruction in parallel. We have already accumulated all our efforts and mobilized our resources. Big infrastructure projects have already started. Probably you have been informed about that. We will rebuild all our lands, and I think we will demonstrate a unique experience in the world – from this kind of devastation to development and decent living standards for people,” Ilham Aliyev said.