Azerbaijan celebrates Victory Day

President Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev declared that November 8 will be the Victory Day on the occasion of the conquest of the strategic city of Shushha by Azerbaijani forces. Shusha is a city located in Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been under the control of the Armenian-backed ethnic Armenian forces since the end of the separatist war in 1994. The conquest of Shusha forced Armenia to accept a Russian-brokered ceasefire two days later.

Tens of thousands of people marched through Baku on Monday to commemorate the country’s first anniversary of the victory over Nagorno-Karabakh. As part of Monday’s celebrations, protesters and military cadets carried a huge 440-meter national flag across the capital of Azerbaijan. Victory Day was also commemorated by Azerbaijanis and invited guests in Vienna. The Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani Cultural Center, based in the Austrian capital, held a gala concert in Liechtenstein City Palace on this occasion in cooperation with the State Committee for the Azerbaijan Diaspora. Among the guests were the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Bratislava and the Azerbaijanis living in Slovakia.

 (source: AP Photo)