Azerbaijan’s leader laid flowers at a monument in Baku, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a message on Sunday to mark the sixth anniversary of the Second Karabakh War.
Azerbaijan’s victory in the war ended 30 years of Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and paved the way for the normalization of ties between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The 44-day war, which began on Sept. 27, 2020, was a sign of Azerbaijan’s resolve to maintain its sovereignty over occupied lands. Azerbaijan and Armenia had a cease-fire in place for years, but attacks by the Armenian Army in 2020 triggered a new conflict. The killing of Azerbaijan’s Maj. Gen. Polad Hashimov in July 2020 during Armenian attacks on Azerbaijan’s Tovuz region prompted mass protests in Azerbaijan, and Baku moved to take decisive action against the Armenian occupation. When Armenian forces launched an all-out attack on the morning of Sept. 27, 2020, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev ordered a counterattack, which eventually escalated into the war.
Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive led to the liberation of hundreds of settlements and villages from the occupation of Armenian separatists. About two months later, the two countries signed an agreement to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
Azerbaijan’s casualties, which amounted to 2,908 people, led to the declaration of Sept. 27 as Remembrance Day to honor the fallen soldiers of the Patriotic War, as the Second Karabakh War came to be known in the country.
Azerbaijan offered Armenia a lasting peace deal following its victory. Significant progress was made in talks between the foreign ministries of the two countries, and the sides reached an agreement on the text of a peace treaty. The text of the agreement was initialed at a trilateral summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Aug. 8, 2025.
On Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a close friend of Aliyev, commemorated veterans and others who fought to liberate Karabakh from occupation and restore its freedom on the occasion. Azerbaijan and Türkiye enjoy close ties, symbolized by the motto “one nation, two states.”
In a post on his social media account, Erdoğan said: “On the occasion of the Remembrance Day of friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan, I commemorate with mercy our heroic martyrs who fought to liberate Karabakh from occupation and restore its freedom, and pay tribute to our veterans with respect.”
In his post, President Erdoğan used the Azerbaijani spelling of Karabakh, saying: “Qarabağ is Azerbaijani territory and will remain so forever.”
Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva also stressed in a message that harm inflicted on civilians’ lives and health during the war, as well as the destruction of residential areas and civilian infrastructure, had serious humanitarian consequences.
Aliyeva listed restoring human rights violated by wars and conflicts, determining the fate of missing persons, clearing areas contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance, and ensuring the safe and dignified return of people forced to leave their homes among the main humanitarian priorities of the postwar period.
The ombudsman said progress on the peace agenda between Azerbaijan and Armenia and developments toward finalizing a peace agreement were important for the future of the region. She added that securing lasting peace was the responsibility of all relevant parties, including the international community.
