Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
As far as humanity is developing, the number of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world is growing, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov said.
Ahmadov made the remarks in Baku at the event dedicated to the World Refugee Day, Trend reports on June 20.
“Everyone must think about that,” he said. "People talk about democratic values in the world today more than 100 years ago, but the number of refugees in the world continues to grow."
“There are enough resources in the world for all people to live in prosperity, but injustice is an obstacle,” he said. “The world must unite efforts for the number of refugees and IDPs not to increase.”
“Azerbaijan is one of the countries suffering the problems with refugees and IDPs more than others,” he said. “The OSCE Minsk Group has been trying to resolve the conflict [the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] for 30 years. All its efforts have not improved the lives of IDPs.”
"More than a million Azerbaijani citizens for about 30 years are doomed to live as refugees and IDPs as a result of Armenian separatism,” he said. “The Azerbaijani government has to spend part of the state funds to improve the living conditions of IDPs."
“Azerbaijan would have developed faster and people would have a better life if there had not been the problem with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he said. “The world community must fairly consider the problem and unite the efforts to resolve the conflicts.”
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.