In the Azerbaijani capital Baku, people celebrate every other area in Nagorno-Karabakh that their troops take over. Now it is the Lachin district, which was very important for the Armenians. It is crossed by a corridor connecting Armenia with Karabakh. Now the flags of Azerbaijan were flown there.
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“My joy is doubled. I was four years old when I had to leave Lačin. And now I will return there with my four-year-old son, “one of the celebrating men confided to the reporters of Radio Free Europe.
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The majority of the Armenian population has already left the Lačín area. People are afraid of possible retaliation, they do not want to get in the way of advancing units. Many, as has been seen in other parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, leave the scorched earth behind. They are destroying infrastructure, setting their homes on fire.
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However, others want to stay in the ceded areas.
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“We will not leave our village. We have nowhere to go. We live here. Our children are here. Where should we go? Once we went to Yerevan and lived there for a while. How long should we stay there? People panic. Officials are playing with the fate of our children. That’s not right, “says one Armenian.
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Azerbaijanis who were expelled from here after the First War now live in the suburbs of Baku. They say they are glad that the area has returned to Azerbaijani hands. But there is uncertainty among them about the Russian-controlled corridor.
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“They say that the five-kilometer corridor will not be under the control of Azerbaijan. This means that the city of Lačin will also fall into this corridor. I don’t know if it’s safe for us to go back and live there, “says one of the Azerbaijanis, who is considering returning to Karabakh.
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Azerbaijani MP Zahid Oruch claims that the return of normal life to Lachin should be addressed in some concrete way. “All the people of Azerbaijan – and especially our people in the city of Lachin, including the demining unit – will be able to return to all parts of the district from the beginning of December. Secondly, the Azerbaijani authorities will be located there. And only then – as a third entity – I would mention Russian peacekeepers, “says Zahid Oruč.
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