Azerbaijan’s army retakes four territories occupied by Armenia 30 years ago

Up to 500,000 exiled citizens may be allowed back to region that was seized in the Nineties

AZERBAIJAN has recaptured enough land in its war over the mountain enclave of Nagorno-karabakh to rehouse up to 500,000 displaced citizens, a senior government adviser has suggested.

Hikmet Hajiyev, the chief foreign policy adviser to Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, told The Daily Telegraph that the military had now retaken four key territories during the five-week conflict with neighbouring Armenia.

It means that Azeri citizens will be able to return to the area which was seized by Armenian forces in the early Nineties when Nagorno-karabakh broke away from Azerbaijani control.

“We are talking about a substantial region that has been retaken, and a potentially substantial number of people being able to return to their homes once the conflict is finally over,” Mr Hajiyev said.

“For nearly 30 years we have been waiting for the return of these territories. There is a lot of building and de-mining work that will have to be done, but every village that is retaken is a success for the Azeri people.”

Mr Hajiyev’s claims come amid growing signs that Azerbaijan is prevailing in the war against Armenia, thanks partly to new drone weaponry. More than 100 Armenian tank positions are believed to have been destroyed and more than 1,000 troops killed. Azerbaijan has not disclosed its military casualty figures.

Azerbaijan now claims to have control of Gubadli, Fizuli, Zangilan and Jabrayil. The area includes up to 200 towns and villages, although many are long-abandoned settlements that lie on the front line of the conflict zone.

Mr Hajiyev claimed that Armenian forces had deliberately destroyed some of them as they retreated.

“They have operated a kind of scorched earth policy, destroying these places completely,” he said. “In Fizuli, for example, our troops looked for a building to plant a flag on when they retook it, but could not find anywhere that was not already flattened.”

Up to 700,000 Azeri sf led Armenian-dominated Nagorno-karabakh almost three decades ago during a conflict that saw acts of ethnic cleansing carried out on both sides. Most are now spread around Azerbaijan, but Mr Aliyev is keen to repatriate them.

He points out that Nagorno-karabakh is still recognised internationally as Azerbaijani territory, and argues that the recent military action is legitimate after years of stalled diplomatic efforts by Russia, France and the US.

In an olive branch to Nagorno-karabakh’s population of 150,000, who today are nearly all ethnic Armenians, Mr Hajiyev said that life for them would improve if the area returned to Azerbaijani control and they would no longer have to live in “lousy conditions”.

“We are ready to bring investment and soft power to this region,” he added.