Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

A visiting Australian delegation intends to raise the issue of Azerbaijan’s refugee and internally displaced peoples before the country’s foreign ministry.

The Australian observation mission, which was on visit to Azerbaijan to monitor the November 1 elections, requested information about IDPs in the country for raising this issue before the Australian Foreign Ministry.

Luke Simpkins, the head of the observer mission from made the remarks during a press conference in Baku on November 2.

He said the Australian delegation, in addition to Baku, also visited the polling stations in the country's regions, including Ganja.

“While visiting Ganja, on our own initiative, we met with the IDPs from Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan to obtain detailed information about them. We also asked to provide us with information on IDPs in written form. Upon returning to Australia we will raise this issue with the foreign ministry for its taking certain measures in this regard,” Simpkins said.

The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.

Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijanis who had displaced from their homes as result of the brutal war were forced to live in refugee camps in very difficult conditions.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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