Armenian armed forces occupied Fizuli and Jabrail districts in southwest Azerbaijan 18 years ago today, on 23 August 1993.
On 23 August 1993, Armenian forces occupied Jabrayil District and the western part (125,368 hectares) of Fizuli District, including the district centre, Fizuli, and 51 villages. Some 61,100 people in Jabrayil were forced to flee their homes and 55,000 in Fizuli.
The Armenian attacks on Fizuli District began in 1988 at the start of the war over the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Over 1,100 Fizuli residents were killed in the occupation, 113 were taken hostage and 1,450 became disabled.
Jabrayil and Fizuli districts cover an area from the southeastern slopes of the Karabakh mountain range to the Araz river, which forms the border with Iran. Jabrayil is bordered to the west by Gubadli and Zangilan districts and by Fizuli district to the east. In turn Fizuli borders on Agjabadi and Baylagan districts.
There are 13 settlements and 20 villages in the parts of Fizuli District liberated from occupation. Twelve of the settlements were built after liberation and the families of displaced persons live there temporarily. Some 51,000 displaced persons are settled in the territory.
Fizuli District has a variety of geological deposits, including limestone at Dovlatyarli and Dilagar, clay suitable for bricks and tiles at Kurdmahmudlu and sand and gravel at Guruchay.
Fizuli's distinctive flora included 11 plane trees between 200 and 1,400 years of age.
The Ecology Ministry's Centre for the Assessment of the Destructive Impact on the Environment and Natural Resources in the Occupied Azerbaijani Territories found that the Armenians had cut down trees in the villages of Dovlatyarli and Gochahmadli in Fizuli District, destroyed vegetation in Yaglivand village and between 2006 and 2009 burned over 35,000 hectares of land.
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