Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Currently, the main problem of Azerbaijan is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and social problems of 1.2 million refugees and internally displaced persons as result of this conflict.

Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDP Affairs made the remark at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socioeconomic development in 2014 and objectives for 2015, AzerTag news agency reported.

He noted that the number of conflict zones, as well as refugees and IDPs in the world continues to increase annually.

Hasanov said across the world, the number of conflict zones is 35, and the number of refugees and IDPs is 52.6 million people. According to him, 30 years ago the figure of the refugees was 12 million people, and conflict zones’ number which has increased by about four times, was only 9 then. He added that six million of the 52.6 million people became refugees and internally displaced persons only in 2014.

Addressing social problems and improvement of the living conditions of Azerbaijani citizens, who were forcibly expelled from their native lands, were the main focus of the government in 2014. Implementation of government programs in this area are successfully continuing, according to Hasanov.

He said 630 million manats were allocated to addressing the social problems of refugees and IDPs in 2014. Hasanov noted that in 2014, the amount of funds spent on a displaced person was about 1170 manats that is the highest rate compared to all conflict zones around the world. Also, the housing conditions of 4450 families or 22 thousand IDPswere improved in 2014.

The Azerbaijani government has spent 5.1 billion manats to resolve social problems of refugees and IDPs in the past 20 years,Hasanov underlined.

He said 2.3 billion manatsof these funds have been provided from the state budget, 1.8 billion manats by the State Oil Fund and one billion manats by international financial institutions and international humanitarian organizations operating in Azerbaijan.

Hasanov said some 86 percent or 4.4 billion manats of these funds has been spent in the past 11 years, adding that the government has built 89 modern residential areas and multi-storey buildings with a total area of 2.8 million square metres so far. Also, the housing conditions of 46,000 families or 230,000 people have been improved.

The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left without home over a million of civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

They are temporarily settled in more than 1,600 settlements across 62 cities and regions of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijanis who were 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 have been expelled from Armenia and become 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.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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