The Azerbaijani army has been deployed to the strategic city of Lachin in Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev announced Friday.
"Today, on Aug. 26, we – the Azerbaijanis – have returned to the city of Lachin," Aliyev said on Twitter.
"Azerbaijan's Army is now stationed in the city of Lachin. The villages of Zabukh and Sus were taken under control," he added.
Aliyev also congratulated all the Lachin residents and Azerbaijan people on this occasion, declaring: "Long live Lachin! Long live Azerbaijan!"
A video on social media showed that Azerbaijan's flag has been raised on a building in the city center of Lachin.
Accompanied by a group of soldiers, Maj. Gen. Kanan Seyidov, the commander of the army corps, said that the Azerbaijani military has taken full control of the city of Lachin, as well as the villages of Zabukh and Sus, in line with the directives of the president.
Lachin lies on the route between the city of Khankendi in Karabakh and Armenia.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry also made a statement regarding the return of the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabuh and Sus to Azerbaijan.
"We are pleased that the city of Lachin and the villages of Zabuh and Sus have been returned to Azerbaijan today as part of the ongoing process in line with the issues expressed in the Tripartite Declaration of Nov. 9, 2020," the ministry stated.
"We hope that this development, which constitutes a significant step towards the establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus, will contribute to regional normalization as well as Azerbaijan-Armenia relations.
"Türkiye will continue to support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of brotherly Azerbaijan, as it has done so far," the statement added.
Russian peacekeepers and the Armenian population have left the areas along the route known as the Lachin corridor, where Lachin, Zabuh and Sus are located. The area was temporarily put under Russian control in line with the tripartite declaration signed by Moscow, Baku and Yerevan on Nov. 10, 2020, following 44 days of the Second Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
As part of the declaration, Azerbaijan built a 32-kilometer (20-mile) road passing around Lachin for the Armenian population in Karabakh to use on their way to and from Armenia.
Russian peacekeepers providing security on the route of the old Lachin corridor were required to move the checkpoints to the new road. Lachin and its villages were occupied by the Armenian Army in 1992, and then Armenians brought from Syria and Lebanon were settled there in the following years.
Throughout the process, Azerbaijan has declared that it sees this as a war crime and a violation of the Geneva Conventions.