27 Azerbaijani families returned to Kelbajar

Today, 112 members of 27 Azerbaijani families who left there during the Karabakh conflict were sent to Kelbajar. The total number of families returned to the city has reached 108.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", by September 20, 337 people from 81 Azerbaijani families had returned to Kelbajar.

Today, a group of former internally displaced persons from 27 families (112 people) left for the city of Kelbajar. Previously, these families were temporarily housed in dormitories, sanatoriums, children's camps, and unfinished and administrative buildings, Report reports.

Including today's group of displaced persons, members of 108 families have already returned to Kelbajar, APA writes.

As a reminder, 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, Azerbaijani authorities announced that they planned to resettle 140,000 people to the territories of Karabakh that had come under Baku's control by 2026.

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.