On December 1, Lachin region of Azerbaijan is being liberated from the Armenian occupation, AzVision.az reports.

The region is being liberated in accordance with the Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal signed by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on November 10.

On May 18, 1992, Armenian forces occupied Lachin after Khankendi and Shusha.

Before the occupation, more than 65,000 Azerbaijani people were living in Lachin, which has a city center, a town and 125 villages. There was no Armenian population in Lachin before the occupation.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Azerbaijan Army liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation during this time.

Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-calibre weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front.

On November 10, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement to end six weeks of fierce fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Under the agreement, Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the front line in Nagorno-Karabakh and the corridor between the region and Armenia.

A total of 1,960 Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh under a five-year mandate.

Also, according to the agreement, on 20 November, Armenia handed over the Aghdam region which lies to the east of Nagorno-Karabakh, to Azerbaijan. This followed on 25 November by the Kalbajar region to the northwest of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Finally, on 1 December, Armenia will hand over the Lachin District, over which the Lachin pass connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia passes.

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