AGDAM, Azerbaijan – About 30 years after the war in which Armenian forces drove hundreds of thousands of Azeris from their homes in and around the conflict-torn Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, many hope they can return soon after Azerbaijan recaptures much of the area. area in a counter-offensive last fall.
But for Sayali Pashayeva, and others like her, that dream is clouded by questions such as where they would live in the rubble-strewn frontier areas, and whether they could realistically rebuild their lives upon their return.
“I thank God for giving me the opportunity to return to die on my own land,” said Mrs. Pashayeva, aged 74, on her first visit to Agdam, once home to her family and 40,000 other people. Her son and daughter unfurled a red carpet from the trunk, a gift to the local mosque, the only building still standing here, about 3 miles from the Nagorno-Karabakh border, still officially under the control of ethnic Armenians. The capital there, Stepanakert, is under surveillance by Russian peacekeepers.
“We have been waiting for this moment for thirty years,” said Ms Pashayev’s son, Alastun Pashayev, 45. Azerbaijan took control of Agdam and several other regions in and around the disputed enclave in a bloody six-week battle before Russia entered Russia. November brought about a ceasefire.
Actually returning will not be easy. Pashayev says he knows his $ 135 a month in disability benefits and pension paid to displaced people will not be enough to reclaim the life he lost in Agdam three decades ago when he was a child.