Displaced by Armenian forces, 10 families return homes in Azerbaijan after 29 years

By Ruslan Rehimov

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) – The first batch of 41 families who were forced to flee their homes in 1993 when Armenian soldiers occupied their village in Zengilan, Azerbaijan's southwest region, began to return home.

A group of 60 people, or 10 families, returned their homes in the Agali village, which is located on the route of the Zangezur corridor, as part of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev's "Great Return" program.

The remaining 31 families will move back to their homes this week, according to sources from the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons.

The government has committed to providing employment opportunities to the breadwinners of each family who would settle in the Agali village.

Families living in Agali, which was liberated from Armenia in 2020, are allocated as farming land. Some residents will work in farming, while others will work in public institutions.

The Azerbaijani government has constructed around 200 detached houses equipped with solar batteries and eco-heating systems in the region. The government is not only assisting families in returning to their villages for well-maintained houses and livelihood, but also it developed proper infrastructures such as a school for 360 students, a kindergarten for 60 children, a primary healthcare center, and a market area.

The Azerbaijani government’s efforts to reconstruct and rejuvenate the liberated regions are in full swing, facilitating families to gradually return to their villages.

Relations between the two former Soviet countries have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted in September 2020, and the 44-day conflict saw Azerbaijan liberate several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

A tripartite agreement was brokered by Russia to bring an end to the war in November 2020.