Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 27
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s experience in the sphere of social security of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is important for Ukraine, Ukrainian Minister of Social Policy Andrey Reva, who is on a visit in Baku, told reporters Jan. 27.
Reva said that the amount of IDPs in Azerbaijan and Ukraine is approximately equal.
“Considering the huge amount of IDPs, who left their houses and were forced to live in other districts of the country, it was very difficult for Azerbaijan,” noted the Ukrainian minister.
“If our internally displaced persons have the right to move freely throughout the territory of Ukraine, including those areas where state authorities don’t operate temporarily, the citizens of Azerbaijan didn’t have such an opportunity,” he said. “If they left their places of residence, then, unfortunately, they couldn’t come back.”
From the beginning, this issue has been very acute in Azerbaijan and the government effectively dealt with it, added Reva.
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.