Great Return: Mammadbayli welcomes over 140 Azerbaijani residents PHOTO / Updated

A new group of settlers has arrived in the village of Mammadbayli, in Azerbaijan’s Zangilan district.

Residents were warmly welcomed and handed the keys to their new homes, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

This phase of resettlement has brought 30 families, comprising 143 people, to Mammadbayli.

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As many as eighty families (362 people) of former internally displaced persons have departed for the liberated village of Mammadbayli in the Zangilan district and the village of Khidirli in the Aghdam district.

According to Caliber.Az, these families had previously been temporarily settled in dormitories, sanatoriums, children’s camps, unfinished and administrative buildings. 

But as a result of the brilliant victory of the Azerbaijani Army in the Patriotic War, the former internally displaced persons gained the opportunity to return to their homeland voluntarily, safely and with dignity after 30 years.

At this stage, 30 families (143 people) are returning to Mammadbayli, and 50 families (219 people) to Khidirli.

“I had been eagerly waiting for the day when I would return to my native land. Praise be to the Almighty, today the dream I have cherished for 30 years is coming true.”

This was stated by former internally displaced resident Solmaz Huseynova, who travelled as part of the next group to the village of Mammadbayli in the Zangilan district.

She described the difficulties that local residents, who had been expelled from their land years earlier, had to face.

“But today I am very happy. The liberation of our lands from occupation and the return to our homeland were our cherished dreams. We realised it thanks to the determination of the Azerbaijani Army under the leadership of the head of state. May Allah rest the souls of our martyrs and grant health to our veterans,” she said.

By Aghakazim Guliyev