A group of foreign bloggers are currently visiting Azerbaijan within the framework of the “Show Me Azerbaijan” project initiated and implemented by the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF-ERC). As a part of the project, bloggers representing more than 10 countries – including the USA, France, Spain, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Egypt – visited Shusha.
Araz Imanov, the senior advisor to the Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the liberated territories of the Karabakh Economic Region, welcomed the bloggers in the city of Fuzuli. A. Imanov informed the guests about the causes and the place of the beginning of the 44 days Patriotic war, devastations, conducted by Armenian occupiers in Fuzuli and other districts of Karabakh, the mined areas, as well as the work to be done in connection with the restoration of the city and surrounding villages. The bloggers witnessed the facts of devastations in the city, also visited the Victory Monument and the ruins of the Fuzuli central mosque. They were informed that during the Armenian occupation, mosques not just in Fuzuli, but also in other parts of Karabakh were destroyed, and some of them had been used to house animals.
The project’s (Show Me Azerbaijan – Shusha Camp of International Bloggers) primary objective, as previously stated, is to introduce foreign bloggers to Karabakh’s natural and cultural landmarks, historical sites, heritage sites proving Shusha’s irreplicable role in the Azerbaijani identity, in connection with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s designation of this year as the “Year of Shusha”. The project aims at showing the destruction of settlements and heritage sites as a result of the Armenian occupation, as well as the restoration and reconstruction work being carried out in the post-occupation period, to foreign bloggers and most importantly, raising global awareness about this trip.