Azerbaijani FM, UNHCR official discuss return of IDPs to Karabakh

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has received a delegation led by Angela Li Rosi, Deputy Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The meeting was also attended by Elchin Amirbayov, assistant to the First Vice-President, Report informs.

At the meeting, the results of the UNHCR mission led by Li Rosi to the liberated territories of Azerbaijan on October 24-29, 2021 were discussed.

Li Rosi thanked Azerbaijan for the support to the UNHCR and high-level cooperation. She said the purpose of the visit was to discuss the conditions and prospects for the return of IDPs and refugees, as well as specific aspects of the role of the UNHCR in the trilateral statement signed in November 2020.

Noting that the mission visited Agdam, Tartar, Barda, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, and Zangilan and saw with her own eyes the scale of the task facing Azerbaijan in restoring these areas, Li Rosi said that despite the high level of destruction and mine pollution, the government's rapid restoration activities is commendable.

Bayramov informed the guests about the large-scale forced resettlement problem caused by the Armenian military aggression in our country and the work done to solve the social problems of IDPs in Azerbaijan, which ranks first in the world in terms of the number of IDPs per capita.

Speaking about the conditions created for the activities of humanitarian organizations in our country, the minister stressed that Azerbaijan attaches importance to cooperation with the UNHCR, and did not forget about the assistance provided by this organization to refugees and internally displaced persons in the 1990s.

Informing the guests about the threat of mines in the liberated territories, Jeyhun Bayramov said that 167 people had been killed by mines in Azerbaijan since November last year, including IDPs looking forward to seeing their homeland, and that handing over minefield maps by Armenia was important for the safe return of IDPs.

The sides also discussed steps taken by the Azerbaijani government to restore the liberated territories, the rapid restoration of roads and railways, infrastructure, the reconstruction of villages based on the smart village model, and the construction of an international airport in Fuzuli and expressed mutual interest in continuing cooperation to ensure a dignified and safe return of the IDPs.