President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with residents relocated to the Karkijahan settlement in the city of Khankendi on December 23.
Welcoming the residents, President Ilham Aliyev said:
“I congratulate you on your return to your native land after 34 years. Praise be to Allah, our lands have been liberated from the occupiers, and all former displaced persons are gradually returning to their ancestral lands, including today to the settlement of Karkijahan. This return process continues, and today the ‘Great Return’ Program is the most successfully implemented return program on a global scale.
You lived for many years in challenging circumstances, enduring physical and emotional hardship. Now this has come to an end. After 34 years, you are returning to your native Karkijahan. This is a great happiness both for you and for our entire people.
In late December 1991, the Armenian state forcibly displaced you from your ancestral land. It was the end of December then, and now, at the end of December 2025, justice has been fully restored here as well. Of course, it is not difficult to imagine how much suffering you endured during these years - both in terms of living conditions and moral torment, as well as the feeling of injustice. But I am certain that, like the entire nation, you believed that one day we would return here.
Two years ago, as a result of an anti-terror operation, the settlement of Karkijahan, together with the city of Khankendi, was liberated from the occupiers, and life is now being rebuilt here.
I visited this settlement in October. At that time, I gave instructions for the renovation of houses and the school, as well as the implementation of other necessary infrastructure projects. Today, while familiarizing myself with the settlement, I see that everything has been organized at a high level. The settlement is pleasing to the eye. Of course, this is only the first stage of restoration, because during the occupation the enemy rendered the settlement uninhabitable. Many houses were uninhabitable. Therefore, repair and restoration works have been carried out for nearly two years. Some streets have now been fully renovated, houses have been made fully ready, and all conditions for living here have been created.
I would like to congratulate you once again wholeheartedly on this occasion. I am confident that you will live comfortably and prosperously here. The main thing is that you are on your native land.
Unfortunately, at that time, the Azerbaijani leadership was unable to protect you, failed to demonstrate political will, showed cowardice, and in fact reconciled itself with the occupation. The subsequent government worsened the situation even further. The occupation of Shusha and Lachin occurred approximately five months after the occupation of Karkijahan. Before that, the Khojaly genocide was committed. At that time, both the leadership remaining from the Soviet era and the so-called leadership associated with the popular movement effectively abandoned the people living here to their fate. They could have defended you, but they did not.
Some acted out of cowardice, while others, in their pursuit of power, created chaos and anarchy in Azerbaijan and, in many cases, through betrayal, handed over our lands to the enemy. The APF–Musavat duo that later came to power plunged the country into a deep crisis through their incompetent and treacherous actions. Civil war, the occupation of Kalbajar, and the loss of the Lachin–Khankendi road gave Armenia significant advantages and ultimately led to large-scale occupation.
We, however, worked and fought day and night to liberate our ancient lands from enemy occupation and won the war. It is true that during the Second Karabakh War we did not completely end the occupation, but we never doubted that Khankendi, Khojavend, Aghdara, Asgaran, Karkijahan, and all other settlements and cities still under occupation at that time would be liberated.
Two years ago, as a result of an anti-terror operation that lasted only a few hours, we fully ended the occupation, restored our sovereignty, permanently expelled the occupiers from our lands, and today we live in peace. This is such a glorious history that I am confident both the current and future generations will always take pride in it.
Your return here once again proves that justice exists; one simply has to ensure it. I congratulate you once again.”
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The residents thanked President Ilham Aliyev for the conditions created for them.
