Aghavno residents gather their belongings to leave the village in Artsakh's Berdzor region (Armenpress photo by Tatev Duryan)
The Armenian residents of the Aghavno village in Artsakh Berdzor left their homes and evacuated the area ahead of the August 25 deadline, and thus Berdzor (Lachin) fell under Azerbaijani occupation.
Images and videos of desolate Armenian leaving Berdzor with only their belongings and the undignified manner they were forced out of their homes peppered social media.
However, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and the Turkish government rejoiced at this indignity.
“We returned to Lachin,” Aliyev proclaimed in a Twitter post.
“Today we, Azerbaijanis, returned to the city of Lachin and the Azerbaijani army are positioned in Lachin. The villages of Zabukh (Aghavno) and Sus are under their protection,” Aliyev said in his post.
Artsakh authorities on Thursday said the road linking Armenia to Artsakh through Berdzor is open and safe passage was being guaranteed by the Russian peacekeeping contingent.
Meanwhile, Turkey expressed hope that the “return” of Aghavno and Berdzor will benefit Azerbaijan in its efforts to normalize relations with Armenia.
“We are happy that the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabukh [Aghavno[ and Sus have returned to Azerbaijan under the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
“We hope that this important step in the direction of establishing peace and stability in the South Caucasus will contribute to the improvement of regional, as well as Azerbaijani-Armenian relations,” said added official Ankara.
The Turkish foreign ministry also stated that “Ankara has defended and will continue to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of brotherly Azerbaijan.”