Some 27 more Azerbaijani families get apartment keys in Zabukh PHOTO/UPDATE

Another group of former internally displaced people (IDPs) has arrived in Zabukh village of Azerbaijan's Lachin district.

Some 27 more families (95 people) relocated to Zabukh under the instruction of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have obtained house keys, according to Azertac.

The families were welcomed by the employees of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, MP Mahir Abbaszada and other officials.

A total of 203 families (783 people) have been resettled in the village so far.

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 liberated territories.

"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.