During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the village's Armenian population fled after Azerbaijani troops stormed the settlement on 16 June 1992.[1] In 2001, refugees from the village founded a new settlement they named Nor Aygestan (Armenian: Նոր Այգեստան, lit.'New Aygestan', Mollalar in Azerbaijani), in the Martakert Province of the Republic of Artsakh, with 90-95% of its population originating from Aygestan/Çaylı.[2] The village was part of a set of villages of displaced Armenians who relocated to the Aghdam District, which was largely captured by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. This district, including the area of Nor Aygestan, was previously inhabited by Azerbaijanis. In 1979, there only used to be 284 non-Azerbaijanis in the countryside of the whole district (0.4% of the population).[3] The village of Nor Agyestan was surrendered to Azerbaijan on the basis of the terms of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.[4]
During the ceasefire of the Bishkek Protocol of 1994 until 2020, there have been multiple allegations of ceasefire violations in the village's vicinity.[5] The village was also part of the 2010 Mardakert clashes. The Armenian forces nevertheless managed to hold or regain control over the nearby frontline, until the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war when Azerbaijan claimed that their forces had captured the entire village.[6]
^Yulia Antonyan, "Reminiscences of the Future, The Social Life of Monuments in Refugee-Village" in "Caucasus Conflict Culture: Anthropological Perspectives on Times of Crisis", 2013, p199.