ECO summit in Khankendi carries special significance

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday that the 17th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit held in Khankendi carries deep political and symbolic significance.

In his address, Aliyev emphasized the importance of hosting an international summit in the Karabakh region and noted that Azerbaijan has already organized several such events in liberated territories. These include the 2023 ECO Council of Ministers in Shusha, the 2024 informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States, and the trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Pakistani leaders in Lachin in May 2025.

Aliyev reminded that Armenia had occupied around 20% of Azerbaijani territory for decades, carried out ethnic cleansing, and displaced over a million Azerbaijanis. “The Azerbaijani people never accepted this occupation,” he said.

He noted that as a result of the 44-day war in 2020, Azerbaijan liberated over 300 cities and villages, forcing Armenia to sign a capitulation agreement.

The president said that 65 of 67 mosques in the occupied areas were destroyed, cemeteries desecrated, and gravestones transported to Armenia. He added that the estimated economic damage caused by the occupation stands at around $150 billion, and that more than 400 people have been killed or severely injured by landmines since the end of the war.

Aliyev highlighted ongoing large-scale reconstruction in the region and said that, under the “Great Return” program, internally displaced persons have already returned to 16 cities and villages, with over 50,000 people now living, working, and studying there.

He also drew attention to the rights of Azerbaijanis deported from Western Azerbaijan, noting that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers had adopted a unanimous resolution on the issue.

Concluding his speech, Aliyev reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s strong commitment to ECO cooperation and praised the successful organization of the first ECO Week in 2024.