Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The international organizations and foreign countries have impressed with the work implemented in Azerbaijan in dealing with problems of the refugees and internally displaced persons, which emerged after the Armenian aggression against the country.

Representatives of the international organizations and countries, which have faced this problem, are willing to use Azerbaijan’s experience in this field.

Serhan Aktorpak, head of the International Organization for Migration Baku Office hailed Azerbaijan`s accomplishments in dealing with the problems of refugees and IDPs.

He met with Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijan’s deputy prime minster, chairman of the State Committee for Refugee and IDP Affairs in Baku on December 3, the committee reported.

Aktorpak noted that despite having 20 percent of its lands under occupation and over million refugees and IDPs, Azerbaijan managed to have made impressive accomplishments.

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 during 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.

Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hasanov expressed regret over the fact that the international community and international powers “have a double standard approach to the problem”.

Aktorpak further voiced the organization`s interest in continuing cooperation with Azerbaijan. He said the IOM attaches particular importance to its cooperation with the government of Azerbaijan.

He also praised the Azerbaijani government`s collaboration with IOM.

The sides further discussed ways of developing Azerbaijan-IOM cooperation.

Hasanov said the Azerbaijani government places a particular emphasis on its relationship with the organization.

“We widely used the experience of IOM when we were creating our legal basis for solving the migration problem right after restoring our independence. So maintaining and developing cooperation with the International Organization for Migration is in the Azerbaijani government`s interest,” he said.

Hasanov also hailed IOM`s projects in the country.

--

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

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz