Azernews.Az

BAKU – Head of the UN agency for refugees has said Azerbaijan can provide assistance to its displaced persons without international humanitarian aid.

Antonio Guterres told a news conference as he wrapped up his visit to Azerbaijan on Thursday that since the government has fully undertaken the task of assisting the people displaced during the war with neighboring Armenia, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has limited the scope of its activity in the country.

During his visit to Azerbaijan, paid as part of a tour of the South Caucasus region, Guterres met with government officials and studied the plight of the persons displaced in the aftermath of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.

700,000 Azerbaijanis were ousted from Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding regions during the conflict with Armenia that began in 1988 over Armenian territorial claims. 250,000 others were driven out of their historical lands in Armenia. The refugees and IDPs are currently settled in 62 cities and regions across Azerbaijan.

Guterres said the world community should do everything in its power to reach a solution of the Karabakh conflict.

"It is necessary to state before the international community that Azerbaijan has faced the problem of IDPs and refugees for 20 years, and that they are deprived of the opportunity to go home."

Guterres pledged that UNHCR would continue assisting Azerbaijan even after it signs a peace accord with Armenia.

He dismissed the allegations that UNHCR is operating in the Armenia-occupied Nagorno Karabakh region.

"We don’t have any contacts," he said. "Our goal is humanitarian work. We do not interfere with the political aspect of the matter."

Armenian troops have been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory since the Karabakh war, despite four UN resolutions urging their unconditional pullout and condemnation by a number of other international groups. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.

Ali Hasanov, head of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, termed the UN commissioner’s visit to Azerbaijan as "a major political event".

"The point is that the commissioner saw everything firsthand and, as an unbiased person, he will inform the world community about the actual state of affairs in Azerbaijan," Hasanov said.