Azerbaijani president meets families returned home in rebuilt Khanyurdu village PHOTO/UPDATED

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited Khanyurdu village in the Khojaly district on July 18 to inspect ongoing reconstruction efforts and meet with recently resettled residents.

Caliber.Az, citing Azertag, presents excerpts from President Ilham Aliyev's conversation with local residents during his visit:

President Ilham Aliyev said: "You have now been settled on your native land for several days, and the conditions are good. Today, I visited both Tazabina and Khanyurdu villages to see the living conditions. We have practically rebuilt these two beautiful villages and placed them at your disposal. Live here in comfort, live happily - you deserve it.

You lived under difficult conditions for many years - in tent settlements, railway cars, dormitories, kindergartens, schools, and various makeshift places, enduring extremely harsh circumstances. But you never lost faith. You believed that you would return to your native land. That day has come. Now you are living in these beautiful, scenic, and pleasant places. This shows that justice must always prevail.

But to ensure justice, you must have strength - and a strong fist. In a few months, there will probably be thousands of people living in both villages. The state has created all the necessary conditions - houses, household plots, drinking water, natural gas, electricity. Once again, I say: you deserve this. Because you were the ones who endured the harshest conditions.

Throughout these thirty years, you demonstrated willpower and believed that this historic day would come, and that we would return to these lands - and we have. Both the Patriotic War of 2020 and the anti-terror operation of 2023 are our glorious victories. May Allah rest the souls of all our martyrs in peace. From now on, we will live here forever. No one can ever drive us out of these lands again.”

The residents expressed their gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for the attention shown to them and for the conditions created.

16:16

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited Khanyurdu village in the Khojaly district on July 18 to inspect ongoing reconstruction efforts and meet with recently resettled residents.

During the visit, President Aliyev toured the homes of resettled residents Rasim Javadov and Karam Abbasov. The village, which is part of the Ballija administrative territory, has undergone significant redevelopment as part of Azerbaijan’s broader post-conflict restoration initiative, Caliber.Az reports via Azertag.

To date, 40 individual houses in Khanyurdu have been fully restored, with 65 more scheduled for completion by the end of 2025. A further 93 homes are expected to be repaired in 2026. Just days earlier, on July 14, 33 families—totaling 122 people—returned to their native village after years of displacement.

Infrastructure development has been a central part of the resettlement process. Authorities have repaired a 14-kilometer 10 kV power line, laid over 10 kilometers of new gas pipeline, and restored 4 kilometers of existing gas infrastructure. An artesian well, a 400-cubic-meter water reservoir, and a village-wide drinking water system have been rehabilitated. Additionally, a 10.4-kilometer communication line now provides fixed phone, internet, and IPTV services to residents.

More than 2 kilometers of internal roads have been asphalted. Work is underway to renovate the local school, and major overhauls are in progress at the village's ambulatory medical center and market. A 1-hectare recreation park has also been established to support community life.

President Aliyev also met with resettled residents of both Khanyurdu and Tazabina villages, engaging in open conversations about their new lives and future plans.