BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 2
Trend:
I have declared Shusha the cultural capital, not the capital of officials, President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to the Azerbaijani Television following viewing conditions created at the newly constructed building of Absheron District Central Hospital, Trend reports.
“The Ministry of Emergency Situations. The minister has asked me to allow them to establish a Karabakh Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Shusha. Again for the same purpose – take a piece of land, there is no-one there now, build a fence again, install barbed wire again, build a residency. The State Border Service. If I say this now, the Azerbaijani people will probably laugh just like I did. The head of the service called me and asked for my permission to create a Shusha outpost of the border service. I asked whether there is a border in Shusha. Tell me – is there a border in Shusha or not? He says there isn’t. Then what kind of an outpost are you creating? We now have such a long border from north to south, from Kalbajar to Jabrayil, the border with Armenia. Create a border with Iran in the Jabrayil district. What are you doing in Shusha? Again, to go there, stay there for a while, build a residency, and all at the expense of the state. Why not have a residency there? Sometimes I do not say these things to the citizens so as not to disgust them – sorry for my words, for my expression. But my patience is running out, and I am saying this for our citizens to know and for these officials to hear. Let the officials know their place and do their job,” President Aliyev said.
“Also, I have declared Shusha the cultural capital, not the capital of officials! So everyone should sit in their places, mind their own business, and not upset me. The area of Shusha is 300 hectares. I did not allow a single stone to be placed on top of another stone there because we must first analyze the situation. After that, we must restore those historical buildings. I cannot say how to restore them. This should be stated by the experts. We have involved them now. For example, how should Khurshidbanu Natavan’s palace be restored? Because it has only one surviving wall, and the other walls have collapsed. How should it be restored? Should the collapsed part be built in the same style or should it be built in such a way that visitors can see that it has collapsed and been demolished? I have no answer to this question because I am not an expert. Various local and foreign companies are engaged in this work now. In Shusha, I think we need to restore historical buildings only. After that, with regard to the Khrushchev-era buildings – I do not want to jump the gun now – but I have an opinion that many of them should be removed from there. Modern four- or five-story residential buildings should be built in their places. But I am simply sharing my views in this regard. But experts, architects, historians, and residents of Shusha will say how exactly this will be done, how they want to see this city because it is their city. All this remains on the sidelines and someone stands up and says that he is opening a branch, someone else says he is opening an outpost, someone else says he is opening an emergency situations department. For God’s sake, I am lost for words. I found the right words. I told them the words they will not forget. I am also telling the citizens of Azerbaijan that there must be public control over the restoration work. If there isn’t, ugly buildings will be constructed again, lands will be seized and everyone will build something for himself,” the Azerbaijani president said.
“I want to touch upon another issue now. I have set up a temporary management body. Why? Because I see and know that people are setting their sights there. It looks as if an attack is expected, a seizure of lands. This piece of land is mine, that piece of land is yours, this land is mine and that land is yours. But I will punish all of them, all of them, and do it properly. Let everyone sit in their own place and mind their own business. All those lands will be restored in a planned manner. There will be conditions for people there. These conditions will serve as an example for the whole world. There can be no illegal actions there. No land can be seized. Everything must be done in a planned and grounded manner. I am sure that we will achieve this. We all want the destroyed cities to be rebuilt soon, but at the same time, we want to ensure the comfort of the people who will return there and show the world the power of the modern and strong Azerbaijan,” the head of state said.