Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

British MP called on the international community to increase efforts to return Azerbaijani citizens who became IDPs as a result of the Armenian occupation.

The international community must increase its efforts to help the IDPs return home, British MP from the Labour Party Stephen Hepburn said in response to a survey by The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS).

"I have visited Azerbaijan, with my Labour colleagues as well as my colleagues from other parties. On my visits I have met with Trade Unions representatives and been pleasantly surprised by their level of activity. I have also met with workers at the BP operations, both from the UK and Azerbaijan," Hepburn said.

He said the hardest thing for him was visiting the camps for IDPs that were displaced by the Azerbaijan-Armenia war.

"I have seen the new housing that the government is building for the IDPs, but, notwithstanding these efforts, it is vital that the international community does more to ensure the return of these people to their homes," Hepburn added.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

British MP said on each visit he has been impressed by the progress made in Azerbaijan.

"According to the UN figures, the number of Azerbaijanis living below the poverty line has dropped from 49 per cent in 2000 to just 6 per cent in 2012, and it was obvious when I visited that this development is still ongoing today. But the one thing I learned that I remember most is that the linesman who awarded England the goal in the World Cup of 1966 was not in fact a Russian as reported here, but an Azerbaijani called Tofiq Bahramov. We will always be grateful for his decision that day," the MP said.