Azernews.Az

BAKU – 3.7 billion manats (over $4.6 billion) was spent in 1993-2011 in assistance to the Azerbaijanis displaced from their homes during the war with Armenia in the early 1990s, a senior official has said.

Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister, who heads the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, told a news conference Friday that 2.1 billion manats of the amount was allocated from the state budget, while 860 million manats from the state oil fund Sofar, which holds revenues from oil exports. The rest of the funds came from other sources, including 470m manats allotted by international organizations.

Hasanov said the Azerbaijani government spent an average of 684 manats ($860) per IDP in 2010, the biggest amount spent in the world’s conflict zones. The amount of assistance to the displaced persons surged more than five-fold since 2003.

This year, state budget funds worth about $240m have been designated for assistance to the IDPs and refugees, with the amount expected to increase by another $37.7m. Moreover, almost $140m will be spent from Sofar to address the displaced population’s problems.

Up to a million Azerbaijanis were displaced during the brutal war with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, which claimed some 30,000 lives. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks, brokered by US, Russian and French mediators, have been largely fruitless so far.