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Ombudsman: Armenia limits rights of Azerbaijani citizens

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Materials 30 September 2016 17:36 (UTC +04:00)
The Armenian side continues to violate the ceasefire with Azerbaijan, which hinders the country’s citizens living near the contact line from exercising some of their rights
Ombudsman: Armenia limits rights of Azerbaijani citizens

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 30

By Elena Kosolapova, Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:

The Armenian side continues to violate the ceasefire with Azerbaijan, which hinders the country’s citizens living near the contact line from exercising some of their rights, Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova said Sept. 30 at the 5th Baku International Humanitarian Forum.

“Our problem with the refugees began almost 25 years ago, after Armenia occupied our lands,” she said. “Refugees in Azerbaijan have the same rights and opportunities as the country’s citizens.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Suleymanova said that when Azerbaijan started to receive revenues from selling energy resources, 10 refugee camps were resettled, people got new homes.

The country has laws regarding education for refugees, and children of refugees and IDPs receive presidential grants for education, Suleymanova added.

“Nearly 100 appeals regarding Armenia’s violations of the rights of refugees and IDPs living in Azerbaijan were adopted,” she noted. “All of them were submitted to the UN and the Council of Europe. But the answer hasn’t been received yet.”

Suleymanova also recalled that some 80 ethnic minorities reside in Azerbaijan and all of them have equal rights.

The 5th Baku International Humanitarian Forum kicked off at the Heydar Aliyev Center Sept. 29.

The Forum is an annual platform for famous representatives of political, science and culture elite of the world community, including famous statesmen, Nobel Prize winners in various fields of science and leaders of influential international organizations for holding dialogues, discussions and exchanging views on a wide range of global issues in the interests of all humanity.

Organizers and participants of the Forum are representatives of natural and social sciences, as well as culture elite of the world who have an ambitious task of forming a new humanitarian agenda with the aim of its further consideration in the world scale.

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