Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr I. Alizadeh / A project aimed at the return of Azerbaijani citizens illegally residing in Germany has been developed and both sides are considering the document, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Germany, Parviz Shahbazov, reported in Baku on 20 August.
"Azerbaijani citizens have been residing in Germany for several years. They have been living their lives there. Therefore, returning them from Germany within one day is a very complicated issue. It requires special preparations and the signing of appropriate documents," Shahbazov said.
The German side noted that 6,500 Azerbaijani citizens are illegally residing in Germany. The German Government refuses to provide them with political asylum and has plans to deport them back to their country. German municipalities spend over €40mln a year on Azerbaijani illegal immigrants. Germany states that official Baku does not want cooperate with Germany on the matter.
Shahbazov said that the indicated number of refugees was not precise. "However, the number of Azerbaijani citizens illegally residing in Germany is close to that figure."
According to him, negotiations between the two countries regarding the return of illegal immigrants to Azerbaijan are in progress.
" Azerbaijan is a young state and it lacks experience in this field. Therefore, we want the agreement to be developed in an optimum way and to be coordinated with all state bodies."
According to Shahbazov, there are cases where Azerbaijanis pretend to be of Armenian origin in order to gain political asylum in Germany. The ambassador proved that there are Armenians among Azerbaijani citizens illegally residing in Germany and noted that for the time being their return to Azerbaijan was impossible.
"I think after the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin will also be allowed to return to Azerbaijan," the Ambassador said.