The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Belgrade hosted a reception on Thursday evening to mark the national holiday – Victory Day, celebrated on November 8.
Azerbaijan’s Ambassador Kamil Hasayev recalled that on this day in 2020, during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces achieved victory in the battle for Shusha, a city he described as one of the most significant cultural and spiritual centers of the Azerbaijani people.
According to the ambassador, in the early 1990s, Armenia launched aggression and occupied nearly one-fifth of Azerbaijan’s territory, and in 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched a counteroffensive and liberated the occupied territories.
“The territorial integrity of our country was restored in accordance with four UN Security Council resolutions and under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” Hasayev stated. He added that over the past five years, Azerbaijan has begun restoring the liberated territories to enable the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.
Hasayev emphasized that mutual respect and support for sovereignty and territorial integrity are among the key foundations of the strategic partnership between Serbia and Azerbaijan.
“Today, Serbia is one of Azerbaijan’s closest friends and partners on the European continent. In this regard, I look forward to the visit of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on the occasion of the World Forum on Urbanism next year in Baku. We are confident that this visit will further strengthen our bilateral relations in all areas,” Hasayev said.
The reception began with a moment of silence for all fallen Azerbaijani soldiers, followed by a children’s choir performing the Azerbaijani and Serbian national anthems. After the ambassador’s speech, a film showcasing the reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh after the war was presented.
Attending the reception were Serbian government ministers Jagoda Lazarević, Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski, Boris Bratina, and Nenad Popović, as well as representatives of the Serbian Armed Forces, senior clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, members of the diplomatic corps in Belgrade, and foreign military representatives.
Victory Day is a national holiday in Azerbaijan, celebrated on November 8 to commemorate Azerbaijan’s victory in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. The holiday was established by a decree of President Ilham Aliyev in December 2020.
