Azerbaijan fully reclaims lands

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan on Tuesday completed reclaiming territory held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century after a peace deal ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hailed the restoration of control over the areas as a “historic victory” and a demonstration of his nation’s “unbending spirit.”

“We all lived with one dream, and now we fulfilled it,” Aliyev said in an address to the nation. “We won a victory on the battlefield and in the political arena, and that victory opens a new era for our country. It will be an era of development, security and progress.”

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians hold a portrait of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevas outside Nagorno-Karabakh, in Aghjabadi, Azerbaijan, Tuesday.