Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Residents of the Jojug Marjanli village in the Jabrayil region seek to return to their homes after the village was liberated from the Armenian occupation, and now will be restored upon the presidential order.

The village was liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016 as a result of a successful counter-attack of the Azerbaijani Army. Now, the village is fully under control of the Azerbaijani side and people can safely live in the village.

Under the presidential order dated January 24, 4 million manats ($2.12 million) was allocated from the President`s 2017 Contingency Fund to the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs for the construction of 50 private houses, a school building and relevant infrastructure at the first stage.

More than 190 Azerbaijani families want to return to the liberated Jojug Marjanli village in Jabrayil region of Azerbaijan, said Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister.

Hasanov, who also chairs the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, stated that the April battles turned into a very significant event in Azerbaijan's history.

“During these battles, two heights were taken back, tens of thousands of hectares of territory were liberated, and currently the work on mine clearance is underway there,” he told AzTv. “Prior to the April battles, the Leletepe height was under occupation, but one settlement of the Jabrayil district – the Jojug Marjanli village was partly liberated in 1993, during the Horadiz operation under the leadership of the national leader, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Heydar Aliyev.”

“However, this village at any time could have been shelled from the Leletepe. Thus, no one lived in the village, except one family, which has been living there for 25 years," Hasanov said, noting that after the April battles the village became safe again.

Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan are under the control of the Armenian military and separatists since a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. Negotiations lasting for about 30 years have brought little progress in resolving the conflict, though a fragile truce has been in place.

One of the most tragic conflicts in the history of the 20th century, once again aggravated on April 2 2016 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions.

To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Leletepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

Hasanov said that the village’s residents (more than 190 families out of 400 families, who once lived there) have already expressed desire to return to their homeland.

“This was reported to the Azerbaijani President and the head of the state signed a relevant order and allocated four million manats for the restoration work,” he noted.

Hasanov stressed that the construction work will begin soon, as first 50 families out of 190 will be settled in this village.

Before the start of the restoration work in the liberated Jojug Marjanli village, Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) plans to carry out demining work in that area.

Chief specialist for ANAMA operations, Adil Aslanov, told Trend that as the territory was under occupation, it is possible that there may be a lot of unexploded ordnance and mines.

Azerbaijan’s parliamentarians and other officials also highly appreciated the presidential order, voicing hope that the return to Jojug Marjanli village will be a beginning of the “great return” to the occupied lands.

"I regard it [the April battles] as a victory of the entire Azerbaijan and believe that all our territories will be liberated from the occupation," said Ziyafat Asgarov, the first vice-speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament while commenting on the reconstruction of the liberated village.

He added that the liberated territories will be provided with all necessary social facilities and infrastructure.

MP Zahid Oruj, in turn, assessed the reconstruction of the liberated village as a historic event.

"I believe it is an important and actually a “Great Return” of people, who lost their lands," he said. "We wish all internally displaced people in Azerbaijan to return to their homes."

The restoration of the liberated village is a very serious message to Armenia, said Azerbaijani MP Aydin Mirzazade.

“Thus, Azerbaijan makes it clear to Armenia that the country will never abandon its stance on the liberation of the occupied lands,” he added.

Due to the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia and the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons hit more than 1.2 million.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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