Azerbaijan’s Khojaly survivor returns home 35 years after fleeing as a child PHOTO

A woman who was photographed as a nine-year-old after the Khojaly tragedy by Azerbaijani journalist and National Hero Chingiz Mustafayev has returned to Khojaly after 35 years.

Lafkhanim Mahmudova, now 44, was nine when she left Khojaly in 1992. She has now returned with her family and received a home in the village of Tazabina in Khojaly district, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

“I cried when I left Khojaly at the age of nine. Today, I have returned here with my family, children and grandchild. I am very happy and proud,” she said.

“I thank President Ilham Aliyev for the opportunity to return to my native land. May Allah rest the souls of our martyrs,” she added.

Mahmudova witnessed the Khojaly tragedy as a child. After fleeing the town with her family, she was taken captive, subjected to torture and lost relatives.

After her release, she was taken to a hospital in Aghdam. The doctor who treated her, Nargiz, gave her the second name Nargiz, by which she is also known.

By Aghakazim Guliyev