Armenians have begun to understand that the only path to progress is peaceful coexistence.
This was stated by Elbay Gasimzade, Honored Architect of the Republic, Chairman of the Union of Architects of Azerbaijan, former Chief Architect of Baku, and Head of Department at the Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction, in a new episode of the video project Dialogue with Tofig Abbasov on the Baku Network expert platform.
Elbay Gasimzade shared his impressions of his first trip to Aghdam in March 2021. According to him, the scale of destruction in the territories liberated from occupation defies rational explanation.
When I saw all of it with my own eyes, my first thought was that no human being could have done this. The goal was to destroy life, to erase every trace of life. Over thirty years, they stripped everything away. Not a single nail was left there, not a single wooden splinter. All the metal had been taken, all the wood had been removed for processing. Only scattered stones remained, he said.
At the same time, the architect continued, after the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from occupation, new cities and villages emerged on those lands within a period that is very short by historical standards.
What are five years? Nothing in the history of humanity. Yet people are living there again, families are there, children go to school, people work. That land is coming back to life more and more every day, he noted.
Commenting on revanşist rhetoric in the neighboring country, Elbay Gasimzade described it as a manifestation of inferiority.
A person with sound judgment never acts out of a desire for revenge. He is guided by the possibility of restoring justice. If we had wanted the war to continue, we simply would not have stopped it. The objective was to liberate our territory, restore order there, and live peacefully, he said.
He added that the reasonable part of society in the neighboring country understands that the only path to progress is peaceful coexistence and cooperation, as proposed by the head of the Azerbaijani state.
According to Elbay Gasimzade, the mine threat remains a serious obstacle to reconstruction.
At the end of the program, he spoke about his work with young architects, calling it a priority of his activity as Chairman of the Union of Architects. According to Elbay Gasimzade, three young specialists were part of the Azerbaijani delegation at the recently concluded World Congress of Architects in Barcelona.
Young people are a very perceptive part of society. They instantly sense insincerity and falsehood. If we teach and guide them without jealousy or mercenary interests, they immediately feel it and value it. Our young people must grow through such examples, the architect concluded.
We present the full video recording of the program to our readers.
