It was noted that Armenia fired rockets at the peaceful cities of Azerbaijan, killing civilians, destroying historical and architectural monuments and urban infrastructure.

"Unfortunately, this year's World Cities Day, dedicated to the theme "Valuing our communities and our cities", coincides with the commitment of crimes against humanity and the killing of innocent people in some cities and towns of our country. Armenia's intensive rocket attacks on major Azerbaijani cities and state terror aimed at killing civilians pose a great threat not only to our cities, but also to the entire region and the world as a whole."- These views were expressed in a letter from the chairman of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture Anar Guliyev to the Director of the UN Settlement Programme Maimunah Mohd Sharif. It was noted that at the time when the whole world is celebrating World Cities Day, a number of Azerbaijani cities and other settlements are under constant attack by the Armenian armed forces.

According to a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2013, October 31 is marked as World Cities Day. World Cities Day, whose main idea is "Better City, Better Life," is dedicated to a different theme each year. The main purpose of this year's "Valuing our communities and our cities" theme is to draw the attention of the international community to the problems of urbanization and to encourage the world community to work together for the sustainable development of cities. To achieve these goals, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is working with governments, local authorities and non-governmental organizations in over 90 countries around the world to find new solutions to the challenges faced by cities and towns. The goal of the program, the main idea of which is “to improve the quality of life for all in an urbanized world”, is to reduce discrimination, poverty and make cities safer for people.

On October 28, 2020, as a result of a treacherous rocket attack on the city of Barda, 21 civilians, including children, were killed, and more than 70 people were seriously injured. On October 4, 11 and 17, a series of rocket and heavy artillery attacks by the Armenian armed forces killed 26 people, including 10 women and 6 children, in Ganja, Azerbaijan's second largest city, injuring 138 people and destroying homes, historical and cultural monuments. As a result of the attack on the city of Tartar, 4 civilians were killed and 4 were injured.

The letter also reflects the fact that the Armenian armed forces deliberately fired heavy artillery and rockets at other cities and settlements far from the conflict zone. It was stated that as a result of these attacks, many civilians were killed and houses, administrative buildings, historical and architectural monuments and other social facilities were damaged.

Drawing the world's attention to the attacked cities of Azerbaijan on World Cities Day, the Chairman of the Committee said that these crimes against innocent people exposed the terrorist nature of Armenia, and the deliberate killing of civilians was a genocide and war against humanity.

“These terrorist acts against the civilian population once again demonstrate that the Armenian military-political leadership violates international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in War of 12 August 1949, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We call upon international community, in particular mayors of cities that have joined the UN initiative around the globe to condemn the barbaric acts of Armenia against peaceful population of urban centres of Azerbaijan, and take necessary steps to stop Armenia from violating international law, purposefully killing the civilians, and demand to withdraw its armed forces from the occupied internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan”,- said Anar Guliyev.