By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

A total of 47 Azerbaijani State Border Service personnel were killed, while 197 got bodily injuries of varying severity during the 2020 Second Karabakh War, Azernews reports, citing Col-Gen Elchin Guliyev, the chief of the service.

In an interview with Azerbaijan newspaper, Guliyev underlined that 12 Azerbaijani border guards were awarded the title of Hero of the Second Karabakh War (four posthumously), 176 persons received orders, and 5,203 received medals for their heroism in the battles.

Guliyev stressed that officers of the State Border Service visit martyrs' families, as well as the graves of martyrs on public holidays, birthdays, and martyrs' memorial days.

“Besides, special attention is paid to the treatment of veterans, processing documents for awarding them the title of war veterans, and ensuring insurance and other payments. All conditions were created for conscripting martyr family members for military service and for work in the State Border Service, for admitting martyr children to a special school of the State Border Guard Service,” he added.

So far 12 members of martyr families have been accepted into the State Border Service for active military service or work, or to an educational institution of the Service, Guliyev underlined.

On September 27, 2020, in response to a large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces along the frontline, the Azerbaijani army launched a counter-offensive operation.

The 44-day war put an end to nearly 30 years of occupation, ensured the liberation of Azerbaijan's lands and the restoration of the country's territorial integrity.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions and urged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city.