Great homecoming: 20 more families return to Lachin PHOTO

The return of former IDPs to the restored town of Lachin continues in accordance with President Ilham Aliyev's order.

Caliber.Az reports that today 16 families (59 people) were sent to Lachin city from Gobu Park 3 residential complex in the Garadagh district of Baku city.

Another 4 families (11 people) left their settlements in Beylagan and Shamakhi districts and will join the migration convoy in Goradiz city.

The families relocated to Lachin will be accommodated in the houses where they once lived, which were restored or rebuilt after the end of the occupation on the instructions of the head of state.

Thus, 315 families, or 1,205 persons, will be permanently settled in Lachin.

The Azerbaijani army took full control of Lachin city along with the adjacent Zabukh and Sus villages on August 25, 2022.

Earlier, Lachin city was temporarily controlled by the Russian peacekeepers to provide communication between Armenia and the Karabakh region. Under the November 10, 2020, trilateral statement, signed by the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders, the city should be handed over to Azerbaijan after the completion of a new road, which would be an alternative to the Lachin road.

Following the completion of the new road bypassing Lachin, Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia clear the unlawfully occupied city and adjacent settlements by August 25, 2022.

Just a year and a half after the end of the war, starting from July 19, 2022, 679 families of former IDPs comprising 2,715 people have returned to the towns of Lachin and Fuzuli, Aghali villages of Zangilan district, Talish of Tartar district and Zabukh of Lachin district, according to Head of the Presidential Administration Samir Nuriyev.

Nuriyev noted that by the end of the year, more than 1,400 families of former IDPs comprising over 5,000 people are planned to return to the liberated territories.

He added that the past three years have been memorable for the restoration of our sovereignty, as well as for the high-level reconstruction and construction works in the territories liberated from occupation.

"In total, foundations of 105 projects were laid in 2021-2023, 63 of which are facilities of various purposes, the opening of which has already taken place. After the Victory, the return of 2,717 former IDPs to the liberated territories was ensured. It is planned to return 5,300 people by the end of the year," he added.