Khojaly welcomes its families home with new house keys PHOTO / UPDATED

Former internally displaced persons (IDPs) have received the keys to their new homes after returning to five villages in Azerbaijan's Khojaly district under the government's Great Return resettlement programme.

According to local media, the latest phase of the return process saw 10 families, comprising 31 people, resettle in the village of Khanabad. A further nine families (39 people) returned to Tazabina, six families (24 people) to Badara, two families (seven people) to Dashbulag, and one family (five people) to Seyidbayli.

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Twelve families comprising 55 people have been resettled in the village of Shukurbayli in Azerbaijan’s Jabrayil district, where they were handed the keys to their new homes.

The ceremony was attended by officials from the Office of the Special Representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan districts, as well as representatives of the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

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A new group of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) has begun returning to their native villages in the Jabrayil, Aghdara and Khojaly districts as part of Azerbaijan's Great Return programme, authorities said on July 24.

According to local media, the latest group includes families relocating to Shukurbeyli in the Jabrayil district; Hasanriz, Kolatag, Ashaghy Oratag and Vangli in the Aghdara district; and Tazabina, Badara, Khanabad, Dashbulag and Seyidbayli in the Khojaly district.

The families had previously been living in temporary accommodation, including dormitories, sanatoriums, children's camps, unfinished residential buildings and administrative facilities.

In the current phase of the programme, 12 families comprising 55 people are returning to Shukurbeyli; six families (17 people) to Hasanriz; three families (19 people) to Kolatag; 10 families (34 people) to Ashaghy Oratag; six families (26 people) to Vangli; nine families (39 people) to Tazabina; six families (24 people) to Badara; 10 families (31 people) to Khanabad; two families (7 people) to Dashbulag; and one family (5 people) to Seyidbayli.

The resettlement is being carried out under the Great Return programme launched by the Azerbaijani government to facilitate the voluntary return of former IDPs to areas recaptured during the 2020 conflict.

By Aghakazim Guliyev