First VP Mehriban Aliyeva chairs meeting on resettlement of refugee and IDP families [PHOTO/UPDATE]

By Azernews

By Gunay Camal

Azerbaijan's First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva chaired a meeting on the resettlement of refugee and IDP families, who are temporarily settled in dormitories in Baku and Sumgayit, on March 9, Azertac reported.

Mrs. Aliyeva, opening the meeting, said that tackling the problems faced by countrymen, who have been driven out their native lands, is in focus of the Azerbaijani state for more than 20 years. 

“The order to approve the State Program for improving the living conditions and lifting the employment of refugees and IDPs was one of the first decrees undersigned by President Ilham Aliyev in 2004. Several supplements were made to the program in 2007 and 2011. Under the program, necessary measures are being carried out in stages to ensure social, education, employment, housing and medical needs of refugees and IDPs,” she clarified.

She went on to say that about 100 modern housing complexes have been built in the regions of the country for IDPs and 250,000 internally displaced people have been provided with new housing, while 150 schools, 60 medical centers and kindergartens have been constructed in these modern settlements.

Mrs. Aliyeva emphasized that necessary steps have been taken to ensure the employment of countrymen. “Over the past 13 years, 400,000 refugees and IDPs were employed. Refugee camps once existing throughout the country have been entirely abolished and IDPs, settled there, moved to new settlements. Overall, more than 6 billion manats has been allocated to fulfill the measures envisaged in the state program. The world's leading international organizations, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees appreciate the care shown to refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan and in many cases name our country as a model country in this regard,” she added.

Nevertheless, a number of refugee families still live in damaged and unsuitable buildings, Mrs.Aliyeva said.

“Under the President’s instruction, each year Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund allocates funds for construction of new settlements. Financial means have also been allotted this year. But, additional and immediate steps should be taken to accelerate the work. The families residing in the damaged and unsuitable buildings in Baku and Sumgayit should be resettled in new houses in the near future,” she said, stressing that additional funds should be allocated for this purpose, while area for construction of buildings should be determined and construction work should be launched soon.

“Besides, apartments should be purchased in newly-constructed houses in Baku and Sumgayit for resettling the refugee and IDP families here,” she added.

Mrs.Aliyeva emphasized that the main aim is to provide all displaced people living in damaged buildings with new apartments in 2017-2018.

Later, a presentation was made at the meeting to show the work that has been done so far.  It was noted that the damage inflicted to Azerbaijan as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict exceeds $800 billion.

In the years of 2001-2016, 95 settlements have been built, 151 schools, 58 cultural centers, 59 health centers and other infrastructure facilities have been constructed. The poverty rate among IDPs declined from 75 percent to 12 percent.

Later the meeting  heard reports by Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov, Head of the Baku City Executive Power Hajibala Abutalibov and Sumgait City Executive Power Zakir Farajov.

In her closing speech, Mrs.Aliyeva said that for immediate resolution of the issue a working group should be established by the Baku City Executive Power and the Finance Ministry.

“Today the major objective is to provide new flats to 4,000 IDP families living in Baku and Sumgait.  Those families living in the most difficult circumstances should soon be transferred to new buildings,” she said, further tasking to ensure coordination between the relevant authorities.

She also instructed the City Executive Powers to develop proposals for employment of refugees and IDPs.

Mrs.Aliyeva voiced her confidence that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be resolved, territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored, all refugees and IDPs will return to their homes.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Due to the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia and the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons hit more than 1.2 million. With a population of over 9.8 million, Azerbaijan is among the countries carrying the highest IDP caseload in the world in per capita terms.

With the growing economic and political situation of the country, the state pays much attention to the most difficult problems once concerning the refugees and IDPs. The state improves the living conditions of refugees and IDPs and it has adopted relevant state programs and legislative acts.