MP urges CoE chief for more attention on Azerbaijan's refugee, IDPs problem

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani MP urged Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland to draw even more attention to the issue of the Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons.

Rafael Huseynov spoke about Azerbaijan’s refugee and IDPs problem during the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on June 23.

“Mr. Secretary General, you are interested in some people in Azerbaijan. It would be better if you were interested in all the Azerbaijanis. Over one million people became refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia,” Huseynov said.

He noted that they can’t return to their homelands for over 20 years.

“Although you have powers, you didn’t take any measures. You never made an effective statement,” Huseynov said.

Jagland, for his part, said it is a very scrupulous and difficult issue, noting that the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict depends on the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group.

He went on to say that the Council of Europe hasn’t received an appeal on this issue. “We can’t interfere in the ongoing negotiation process.”

“Indeed, no results have been achieved to date and this is explained with the difficulty of the situation,” Jagland said.

Armenia's territorial claims and the ensuing military aggression resulted in the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and along with the seven surrounding regions. Over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs in the aftermath of the brutal 1990s war fought between the two South Caucasus republics.

The Azerbaijani government made the refugee and IDP problem its highest priority and pays enormous attention to improve living conditions of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs.

The government allocated 630 million manats to address the social problems of refugees and IDPs only in 2014. The amount of funds spent per displaced person was about 1170 manats. That is the highest per capita rate compared to all conflict zones around the world. The poverty level among the IDPs has sharply decreased, dropping to 15 percent from 75 percent in the last 10 years.

Despite all the measures taken by the government, the people who had to leave their native lands and live the lives of refugees and IDPs live with a desire to return home and are waiting for the conflict to be resolved soon.