President Aliyev opens new settlement for IDP families
By Nigar Orujova
A new settlement for Azerbaijani families of IDPs displaced during the war with Armenia in the early 1990s was commissioned in the Masazir settlement of the Absheron district in a ceremony attended by President Ilham Aliyev on Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugee and IDP Affairs, Ali Hasanov, informed the President that this was the 78th settlement built for refugees and internally displaced persons to date.
The new settlement will accommodate 760 IDP families or a total of 3,420 IDPs who were temporarily settled at a campus of the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. 460 of the IDPs hail from Zangilan, 66 from Agdam, 52 from Jabrayil, 40 from Fizuli, and 142 from Kalbajar, Lachin, Gubadli, Shusha, Khojaly and Khojavand regions.
It was indicated that 90 of the 760 homes built in the new settlement, which occupies an area of 12 hectares, are one-room, while 490 have two rooms, 170 three rooms and 10 four rooms. Also built in the settlement were a school for 540 students, a kindergarten for 280 children, a community center, a health center, etc. The construction of the settlement block began in April last year and was completed in March this year.
President Aliyev enquired about the conditions provided at the new office building of the Executive Authority of Zangilan region.
Then the President visited the apartment of Vali Guliyev, an IDP from Zangilan. The head of state had a conversation with the host at a tea table.
Aliyev also reviewed the Shafag kindergarten built in the settlement and examined the new school.
The President visited the computer room and the gym of the school, as well as watched a demonstration by athletes from the "Araz" sports club of Zangilan region.
The second floor of the school has a local history museum of Zangilan region. After reviewing the school, the head of state had a meeting with the IDPs there.
During the meeting President Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan has over 1 milllion refugees and IDPs and this is a big problem.
President Aliyev stressed that many countries of the world face the problem of refugees and displaced persons, however, Azerbaijan has the most successful method of solving this problem.
The President also said the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict must be resolved. According to him, Azerbaijan's position is unambiguous on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This stance is based both on historical justice and on international law. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be unconditionally restored, President Aliyev said.
"Nagorno-Karabakh is a native land of Azerbaijan. All lands that are currently under occupation are our historical lands," Aliyev said.
The President added that all the international organizations recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. No country accepts Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent entity. Azerbaijani territorial integrity must be restored, he said.
"Armenia occupied our lands militarily. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions to eliminate the results of the occupation, but none of them has been implemented over the 20-year period," Aliyev said.
According to the President, the UN Charter stipulates that any country has the right to use all means of self-protection.
"We will use all the capabilities to keep Armenia in the current isolated position on economic and regional issues. I am sure that as a result of these complex measures and by means of augmenting strength of the country, we will be able to restore our territorial integrity in the near future," the President said.
"I want to reiterate that there is no doubt that we will return back our native lands, including Zangilan, Karabakh, Shusha, and the Azerbaijani flag will wave in all cities of our country," Aliyev said.