37 Azerbaijani families returned to the village of Khorovlu

Members of 37 Azerbaijani families who fled the Karabakh conflict returned to the village of Khorovlu in the Jabrayil district today.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the Jabrayil district, like six other districts, came under Azerbaijani control following the 2020 Karabakh war. 1 By January 18, 1,107 people from families who fled the Karabakh conflict had returned to the city of Jabrayil (Armenian name - Jrakan).

Today, IDP families who had previously lived in various regions of Azerbaijan, primarily in hostels, sanatoriums, and administrative buildings, returned to the village of Khorovlu in the Jabrayil district, APA reports.

A group of 160 people (37 families) left for Khorovlu. One of them, Mustagim Balajayev, said he was "gladly" returning to his native village. "First, my family and I will visit the graves of our martyrs (those killed in combat - note by the "Caucasian Knot") and loved ones. Our village has been rebuilt, and we will familiarize ourselves with the conditions created there," Report quotes him as saying.

We are returning to our native village with our children and grandchildren.

Iltifat Balajayev, who is also returning to Khorovla today, said he left the village more than 32 years ago - on August 23, 1993. "Praise be to God that today we are destined to return to our lands... We are returning to our native village together with our children and grandchildren. I sincerely wish that all internally displaced persons can also return to their lands," Media.az quotes him as saying.

As a reminder, on September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan launched large-scale military operations and took control of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which began a mass exodus of the Armenian population. By October 7, 2023, 100,632 internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh had arrived in Armenia, and by September 2024, only 14 Armenians remained in the region. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a report "The Beginning and End of the Unrecognized Republic of Artsakh".

By August 2024, 2,036 families (7,901 people) of internally displaced persons (IDPs) had returned to the territories of Karabakh that had come under Baku's control.

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

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