30 Azerbaijani families returned to the Khojavend region

Today, 113 members of Azerbaijani families who fled during the Karabakh conflict returned to two settlements in the Khojavend region.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," Azerbaijanis from Karabakh settlements were forced to flee their homes after the start of the First Karabakh War. Their return began after Azerbaijan took control of part of Karabakh. On November 10, 2023, the Azerbaijani authorities announced that by 2026 they plan to resettle 140,000 people to the territories of Karabakh that have come under the control of Baku.

Today, 20 families (71 people) of former internally displaced persons were sent to the village of Girmizi Bazar, and 10 families (42 people) of former internally displaced persons were sent to the village of Sos in the Khojavend region, APA reports.

These people previously temporarily resided in various parts of the country, primarily in hostels, sanatoriums, and administrative buildings, writes Trend.

As a reminder, Gırmızı Bazar is the Azerbaijani name for the village of Krasny Bazar (the Armenian toponym is Karmir Shuka), which belonged to the Martuni region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Martuni is the Armenian name for Khojavend). In February 2020, the homes of the village residents came under fire from Azerbaijani forces, causing people to fear taking their children to kindergarten. Residents complained that their homes were damaged as a result of the shelling. The shelling keeps people in constant fear, and residents' livestock is systematically stolen, the villagers said.

In July of that year, the house of one of the residents was damaged as a result of shelling The international community must pay attention to Azerbaijan's actions, the Nagorno-Karabakh Ombudsman stated at the time.

Azerbaijani IDPs complained about the difficulties of returning to Karabakh. In particular, they noted a shortage of jobs in Fizuli. People are seeking opportunities to return to their homes, but property issues in the territories under Azerbaijani control have not yet been resolved, the displaced persons noted.

Azerbaijani analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" pointed out that simply providing housing for IDPs returning to their towns is not enough. The authorities must create jobs and build infrastructure, they emphasized.