Azernews.Az

French senator Nathalie Goulet visiting Azerbaijan has visited a settlement built for the persons displaced as a result of the Armenian invasion of a part of Azerbaijani territory in a 1990s war.
The residential blocks in the Beylagan region house IDPs who were driven out of their homes when the Armenian armed forces occupied the Khojavand region in 1992 during the armed conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
Eyvaz Huseynov, head of the district’s executive authority, has said four settlements have been built for the IDPs who hail from Khojavand and much work has been done to improve their living conditions. However, the residents long for returning to their native lands. Huseynov expressed disappointment that the UN Security Council resolutions on unconditional pullout of Armenian troops and international law in general are not being enforced.
Goulet visited the apartment of Sevil Azimova, a resident of a Khojavand village, and had a conversation with her over tea. Azimova told the French senator of the suffering she had been through.
"The Armenians have driven us out of our lands, our homes and killed my two sons, my relatives. The Armenians killed 77 residents of our village in one day. We want to live in our native land. We request that you make our fair voices heard in the world."
Goulet said she was visiting Azerbaijan for the second time, saying her current visit aimed to closely study the plight of refugees and IDPs.
"I understand you," the senator said. "The injustice you have faced is intolerable. I have sent a letter detailing the information I acquired to the French Senate and President and have addressed the Senate over this. Azerbaijan has a fair cause on the Garabagh issue. Your rights are recognized throughout the world."
Goulet also met and conversed with ethnic Armenian Zhenya Zeynalova (Yesayan). The lawmaker was informed that the 72-year-old woman had married an Azerbaijani Javanshir Zeynalov in 1959, and has four children, twelve grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Zeynalova said she had seen respect from everyone while living in Azerbaijan and that three of her kids had been granted dwelling space.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but the OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.*