Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation ends activities in Baku
By Sara Radjabova
The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, which conducted charitable and humanitarian activities in Azerbaijan, decided to end its activities in the country.
Azerbaijan is no longer experiencing a difficult and complex situation, unlike the initial period of the country's independence, so the foundation intended to end its activity there, Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakayin told Trend Agency on January 28.
Pakayin said the Foundation started its charitable and humanitarian activities when Azerbaijan was having a hard time at the start of gaining its independence.
He noted that the Foundation has helped tens of thousands of people in need over the past 20 years, particularly internally displaced persons and the families of the Karabakh martyrs.
The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation's representative office in Azerbaijani was established in 1993.
Pakayin said the Foundation has also worked in areas such as education, elimination of unemployment, providing people with household equipment, and providing free medical services at the Imam Ali Hospital.
He added that Iran's charitable activities have always been the focus of attention for Azerbaijan's national leader Heydar Aliyev, as he has repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Iran for its humanitarian aid.
Pakayin expressed his confidence that the Azerbaijani people will never forget the Foundation's assistance.
The Imam Ali Charity Clinic which was operating under the Foundation has also suspended its work.
The Foundation has spent about $43 million on the implementation of projects in Azerbaijan during more than 20 years activity.
Following a peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the return of IDPs to their native lands, Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation might reconsider resuming its activities in Azerbaijan.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
As a result of Armenia's military aggression, 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.