The State Committee of Azerbaijan for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons has held a draw among the families who will soon return to Aghali village in the Zangilan district, AzVision.az reports.

The committee said that the event involved personnel from the Special Representative Office of the President of Azerbaijan in the Jabrayil, Gubadli, and Zangilan districts of the Eastern Zangazur Economic Region, the Zangilan district's executive power, and the public council under the committee.

In total, 33 families (177 people) took part in the drawing. Based on the family composition, 10 families received three-room, 15 families received four-room, and eight families received five-room apartments. To date, these families have lived in Baku and Sumgayit, sites of temporary settlement in the Absheron district.

The draw is intended to ensure objectivity and transparency in the process of accommodating IDPs. Representatives of internally displaced families determine by drawing lots the exact address of the houses allocated to them.

The participants noted that they feel great joy in returning to their native places. They expressed their deep gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva for the conditions created in the territories liberated from occupation and the care given to the former internally displaced persons.

The families participating in the draw, according to the schedule, will be sent to the village of Aghali on October 26 and October 28.

Following the liberation of its territories from Armenian occupation in 2020, Azerbaijan initiated the long-awaited 'Great Return' program, which envisions the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their native lands.

Up to now, 133 families (649 people) have been returned to Aghali village.

Along with Aghali, the former IDPs returned to Lachin and Fuzuli cities, the villages of Talish (Tartar district), and Zabukh (Lachin district).

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