Community Chairman: 'We left Nuvadi in 1991 since we had no other choice'

On August 7, 1991, the residents of Nuvadi were forced to leave the village as they had no other choice, Fikrat Aliyev, member of the Supervisory Board of the Western Azerbaijan Community, chairman of the community of Meghri district, academician of Azerbaijan National Academy of Science, told reporters.

Report quotes him as saying the villagers did not leave Nuvadi until August 7, 1991:

“A self-defense detachment was formed. But by the will of the fate, we were forced to leave the village, because the virtually unarmed villagers had no other choice. I then got an appointment with the last chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Anatoly Lukyanov, and tried to clarify the situation. He said, 'these lands are not yours and you must leave them'. Until that moment, I thought that only Armenians were behind the eviction of Azerbaijanis. But after that incident, I realized that the Soviet government was also behind it."