Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 28
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Azerbaijan no longer experiences difficult and complex conditions, which existed in the initial period of the country's independence, so the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has decided to end its activities there, Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mohsen Pakayin told Trend on Jan. 28.
"The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation started its charitable and humanitarian activities in Azerbaijan's hard times when the country had just gained its independence. Over the past 20 years, the foundation has helped tens of thousands of people in need and in particular internally displaced persons and families of the Karabakh martyrs," he said.
The ambassador said the foundation has also worked in such areas as education, elimination of unemployment, providing people with household equipment and providing free medical services at the Imam Ali Hospital.
"Iran's charitable activities have always been the focus of attention of Azerbaijan's national leader Heydar Aliyev. He repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Iran for its humanitarian aid," Pakayin added.
The ambassador expressed his confidence that the Azerbaijani people will never forget the foundation's aid.
Aside from that, the Imam Ali Charity Clinic which was operating under the foundation, has also suspended its work.
Over 20 years of its activity, the foundation spent about $43 million on implementation of projects in Azerbaijan.
Presumably, following the peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the return of IDPs to their native lands the Azerbaijani office of Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation will reconsider the issue of resuming its activities in the country.
The representative office of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation in Azerbaijani was established in 1993.
Translated by E.A.
Edited by S.M.