Lachin and some villages, located on the road route between Khankendi and Armenia, where the Armenian population lives in Karabakh, will be under the control of the Baku administration at the end of this month, in accordance with the declarations signed by Russia-Azerbaijan-Armenia.
After the 2nd Karabakh War, both the Russian troops and the Armenian population took the route known as the “Lachin corridor”, which was temporarily given to the control of the Russian elements in accordance with the tripartite declaration signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on November 10, 2020, where the Lachin city and the villages of Zabuh and Sus are located. will leave.
According to the 10 November 2020 declaration, Azerbaijan was going to build a new road passing outside the city of Lachin, which the Armenian population in Karabakh would use on their way to and from Armenia within 3 years. Azerbaijan completed this 32-kilometer road earlier than planned. Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan will use the new road to travel to and from Armenia. Russian elements providing security on the route of the old Lachin corridor will also move the checkpoints to the new road.
Lachin and its villages were occupied by the Armenian army in 1992, and Armenians brought from Syria and Lebanon were settled here in the following years. Throughout the process, Azerbaijan has declared that it sees this as a war crime and violation of the Geneva Conventions.
According to the information in the Armenian press and social media, the Armenian population settled in the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabuh and Sus was warned to leave the region until 25 August. The Armenian population here will be able to settle in either Armenia or Khankendi and they will be provided with financial assistance by the Yerevan administration.
Although the Armenian population who left the region was warned not to burn their houses and harm the environment, there were images on social networking sites that some Armenians burned houses and forests.
While there were reports in both the Armenian and western press showing the Armenians to be expelled from Lachin in a disadvantaged position, the issue of when they settled here and who lived in these lands before was not mentioned. There was no information in the news that there was no Armenian population here before the occupation and that Azerbaijanis had to leave their homeland.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a statement to the Azerbaijan State Television regarding the evacuation of Lachin by Armenians and stated that he instructed the State Committee for Refugees and Displaced Persons to contact the original inhabitants of the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabuh and Sus, and to start work to return them to their ancestral homeland. .