Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20
By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan is probably one of the countries that needs to take serious measures in terms of the number of refugees, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) Ali Ahmadov said at an event dedicated to World Refugee Day, Trend reports.
According to the deputy PM, international organizations, and, above all the OSCE Minsk Group should increase efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict so that Azerbaijan's IDPs and refugees return to their homes.
Stressing that Azerbaijan is one of the countries with a large number of refugees, Ahmadov added that, despite the gravity of the situation, international organizations have not yet taken concrete effective measures to resolve the conflict and return the displaced persons to their lands.
"According to statistics, at the end of 2018, more than 70 million refugees and IDPs live in the world. This is one percent of the global population. In Azerbaijan, there is one million of refugees and IDPs, which is 10 percent of the country's population and this situation has been going on for about 30 years," he said.
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 Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.