Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Herbert Salber, as part of his visit to the country, met with Azerbaijani IDPs living in Barda region on October 27.

He inspected the conditions created at the settlement for 558 IDP families there.

Azerbaijani Deputy PM, chair of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov accompanied him during his visit.

The EU special representative viewed conditions created at a school, orphanage and kindergarten in the settlement. The complex has 558 apartments, a 640-seat school and a 140-seat kindergarten.

Salber said this was the first time he met with IDPs outside Baku. "It's my first meeting with IDPs outside Baku. It's very important for me to get acquainted with the living conditions of IDPs and study their problems," he said.

Speaking to journalists, Herbert Salber hailed the conditions created for IDPs. " I saw the conditions created here for IDPs. All the necessary conditions have been created here. I understand the conditions of refugees. Their main desire is to return to their homeland," he said.

The occupational and ethnic cleansing policy of Armenia forced over 1 million Azerbaijanis to leave their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Nowadays, with a population of over 9.6 million, Azerbaijan is among the countries carrying the highest IDP caseload in the world in per capita terms.

The EU special representative further said that the conflict should be resolved in peace. "We do not want any military confrontation in the region, because innocent people and civilians suffer from this. The European Union is ready to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict," Salber emphasized.

As part of the three-day visit Salber met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Defense, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov and Chair of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

IDPs praised the measures taken by the Azerbaijani government to improve their living conditions and address problems.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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