Baku, OSCE discuss refugees, IDPs’ conditions
By Sara Rajabova
More than 210,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) reside in 86 settlements of the modern type.
Deputy Primer, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov made remark during a meeting with OSCE Project Coordinator in Baku, Ambassador Alexis Chahtahtinsky on October 20, the committee said.
Hasanov said the relations between the OSCE and Azerbaijani government are at a good level.
He informed the ambassador about the history of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the state of refugees and IDPs in the country.
Hasanov went on to note that as a result of the ongoing complex political processes in the South Caucasus region over the past 200 years, Azerbaijanis have repeatedly been subjected to forcible expulsion from their homes, as well as the policy of ethnic cleansing and deportation.
The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left over a million of civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.
They are temporarily settled in more than 1,600 settlements across 62 cities and regions of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijanis who had displaced from their homes as result of the brutal war were forced to live in refugee camps, tents and wagons in very difficult conditions.
Moreover, thousands of Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
Hasanov further briefed the ambassador about the Azerbaijani government's measures to improve the social conditions of refugees and IDPs.
He said 86 settlements of modern type with the entire socio-technical infrastructure have been set up so far. Some 42,000 families or more than 210 thousand people live there and the works in this direction are underway.
The sides also exchanged views on the implementation of future projects between the Azerbaijani government and the OSCE project coordinator. At the same time, holding other meetings were envisaged in connection with the intensification of the fight against drug trafficking.