Great Return: Newly returned Kalbajar residents receive apartment keys PHOTO/UPDATED

Another group of formerly internally displaced families has been handed the keys to their new apartments in the city of Kalbajar.

The key handover ceremony was attended by officials from the Special Presidential Representative Office, the Service for Reconstruction, Construction and Management in Kalbajar district, and the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, local media confirmed.

At this stage, 29 families, totaling 115 people, have moved into the first residential quarter of Kalbajar. With this latest group, the total number of returnees permanently resettled in the city has reached 338.

16:10

Under Azerbaijan’s Great Return program, 29 families, comprising 115 individuals, have now arrived and settled in the city of Kalbajar, according to local media. 

This marks the latest phase in the ongoing efforts to facilitate the safe and voluntary return of internally displaced persons to their homes in Kalbajar. Authorities continue to support the returning families as part of the broader repatriation initiative.

12:24

The next relocation caravan to the city of Kalbajar has been dispatched as part of Azerbaijan’s ongoing Great Return program. 

In this phase, 29 families, totaling 115 people, set to return to the city, Caliber.Az reports via local media. 

The families, who were temporarily residing across the country in dormitories, sanatoriums, and administrative buildings, are among those gradually resettling in areas liberated during the 2020 Karabakh war. With this latest relocation, the total number of families who have returned to Kalbajar reaches 81, or 337 people.

Launched in 2022, Azerbaijan’s “Great Return” program aims to resettle approximately 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) by 2026. The initiative includes the reconstruction of 100 settlements with essential infrastructure, including housing, schools, hospitals, and utility networks. Between 2020 and 2023, over $4.6 billion was allocated to the project, with total investment expected to reach $17.6 billion by 2030.

The program’s second phase, scheduled from 2026 to 2040, will focus on the full restoration and integration of all liberated territories into the country’s social and economic framework.

By Sabina Mammadli