Azeri Refugees Options

[Baku87]

AZERI REFUGEES

In 1988 war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia, when Armenia attacked Azerbaijan and occupied 20% of Azerbaijani lands.
When the cease fire treaty was signed in 1994 between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Republic of Azerbaijan numbered more then a million internally displaced persons (IDP). Most were forced to leave their native lands in Karabakh and their native lands in Armenia these refugees had to leave most of their belongings behind. The refugees were lucky if you could get away unharmed, and felt blessed if they could bring at least a bag of food with them. In 1994 Azerbaijan registered a population of 7 million, but at least 2 million live and work in Russia but are registered as Azerbaijani civilians. Thus in reality Azerbaijan has a population of 5 million and whom 1 million are refugees. About 1 of the 5 people in Azerbaijan are refugees, never were there such a high percentage (20%) of the total population refugees. Their lands are occupied by Armenian forces, incredible ammount of material damage, estimated $50 billion. A strong economy crashed to the ground. Azerbaijan lost 25,000 souls to the war and witnessed a hoirrible crimes committed by Armenians on Azerbaijani people.

Although Azerbaijan economy is rapidly improving the goverment cannot provide the basic needs for the one million refugees.
And next to that the international humanitarian funding for Azerbaijan has been decreasing for several years. UNHCR’s annual appeal for Azerbaijan decreased 61 percent from $12 million for 1999 to $4.7 million for 2000; its actual budget in 2000 was $4 million. In 2001, the budget slipped to $3.9 million.

In Azerbaijan, school, hospitals, unused factories and railway coaches have all been used to accommodate the country's over a million internally displaced people. Only a small proportion are accommodated in camps.

[Baku87]