Azernews.Az

Elnur Enveroglu

Read more

The liberated territories of Garabagh are fast becoming a testing ground for Azerbaijan’s capacity to convert military victory into sustainable state-building. Once synonymous with ruins, displacement, and tragedy, the region is undergoing an ambitious transformation, certainly, closely shaped and supervised by President Ilham Aliyev. The stakes are high: if successful, Garabagh’s revival could serve as a model of post-conflict reconstruction; if not, the scars of occupation may linger longer than bricks and mortar can repair.

Since the 2020 war, nearly 50,000 people have resettled in towns and villages once emptied by three decades of occupation. The process has been carefully choreographed by Baku. President Ilham Aliyev has made Garabagh reconstruction a personal priority, visiting regularly to inaugurate homes, schools, and infrastructure projects. These trips are not merely ceremonial. They function as high-level monitoring missions: deadlines are enforced, contractors are held to account, and the symbolism of presidential oversight reassures citizens that the state’s commitment to Garabagh is not fleeting.

The social dimension of this resettlement is striking. Formerly abandoned villages are regaining the rhythms of community life, with reopened schools, functioning businesses, and restored civic services. For residents of Khojaly, one of the conflict’s most painful symbols, this revival is particularly charged. During his recent visit to Daşbulaq, a village in the Khojaly district, President Aliyev inspected newly completed homes, paved roads, and water and electricity networks. In doing so, he underscored a message central to his leadership: rebuilding Garabagh is not just about physical infrastructure, but about restoring dignity and confidence.

Economic revival forms the second pillar of this reconstruction effort. Agriculture has been chosen as a cornerstone industry, combining Garabagh’s natural potential with Azerbaijan’s wider diversification agenda. A mulberry orchard covering 13 hectares has been established in Daşbulaq, equipped with modern irrigation and stocked with 130,000 imported saplings. The project, expected to yield hundreds of tons of mulberry leaves by the end of the decade, will revive the silk industry, a historic Azerbaijani export. Expansion plans envisage 1.5 million saplings and new silk-processing facilities, creating both permanent jobs and seasonal employment.

The symbolism here is twofold. First, Garabagh is being integrated into the national economy rather than left as a subsidised frontier. Second, President Aliyev is positioning the revival of traditional industries within a modern framework, linking rural development to export potential and global markets. This duality, heritage combined with strategy, reflects a wider pattern in his governance.

Yet the reconstruction push is not without challenges. Building entire towns from scratch demands vast capital, and ensuring returns on investment will require careful planning. Beyond symbolic industries like silk, the region will need diverse economic anchors to avoid dependency on subsidies or single-sector growth. Moreover, the accelerated pace of resettlement risks straining public services if not matched with long-term job creation.

President Ilham Aliyev appears conscious of these risks. Under his successful leadership, Garabagh’s revival has been tied to infrastructure upgrades across the country, from transport corridors to energy networks. Roads and railways linking the liberated areas to major hubs are being constructed to international standards, positioning Garabagh not as a periphery but as a node within Azerbaijan’s logistics and trade system. This reflects a broader strategic aim: to fuse reconstruction with regional integration and to ensure the territories contribute meaningfully to national GDP.

The political dimension is also significant. By placing himself at the centre of Garabagh’s reconstruction, the President of Azerbaijan is reinforcing his image as guarantor of both territorial integrity and economic renewal. Every visit, every ribbon-cutting, becomes part of a carefully managed narrative: Garabagh is not only Azerbaijani by law but is being actively woven back into the nation’s social and economic fabric.

The next phase will test whether this narrative can be sustained. Success will depend on whether returning families find not just houses but livelihoods, and whether symbolic projects like silk production translate into scalable industries. For now, however, President Ilham Aliyev’s hard work and efforts are paying dividends in political legitimacy and public confidence.

Garabagh’s revival is still in its early stages, but the direction is unmistakable. Under the Azerbaijani President's close watch, the region is moving from ruins to renewal, an experiment in post-conflict reconstruction where leadership, symbolism, and economic strategy are tightly bound. Whether this experiment produces a sustainable model or remains a showcase project will define not only the future of Garabagh, but also the legacy of the President who has made it his signature cause.