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KARABAKH REFUGEES: A BILATERAL PROBLEM WITH NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT
Transitions online, Czech Rep.
Nov 20 2013
Azerbaijan devotes more state funds to the needs of internal
refugees than any other country, EurasiaNet.org writes, citing the
International Crisis Group. In 2012 the government channeled 3 percent
of the budget to rehousing some of the hundreds of thousands who fled
Nagorno-Karabakh more than 20 years ago as Armenian forces occupied
the territory.
Last year, more than 10,000 refugees moved into new housing, the
Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) reports.
Yet these new homes "come with a catch," EurasiaNet.org writes. The
recipients "cannot sell, give as a gift, or transfer the apartments;
they are deemed temporary shelters and the government retains sole
ownership."
Meanwhile, Baku's official position, unchanged since the 1994
cease-fire, is that Armenia must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh,
which remains Azerbaijani territory under international law. Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov restated this demand this week, adding
that the "almost 1 million refugees and internally displaced people
should return to their place of origin."
Citing "observers", EurasiaNet.org writes that that position could
encourage the government to keep ownership of the properties so
that it can evict the refugees if they are ever able to return to
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Yet if that should happen, observers also wonder how many of these
people would want to return to the remote territory. Many of the
displaced have been rehoused in or around Baku, a city that has been
transformed by oil wealth.
The $4.4 billion Baku spent on refugees in the past decade, according
to the IDMC, far outweighs the amount the Armenian government can
devote to its own displaced people.
Armenian State Migration Service Director Gagik Yeganian recently
told EurasiaNet.org that $25 million is needed to provide housing for
refugees forced out of Azerbaijan during the conflict over Karabakh.
But his service has no budget to assist them, the website reports.
And even in comparatively wealthy Azerbaijan, most internal refugees
"are yet to benefit from government housing assistance," the IDMC
states. "More than 400,000 continue to live in dilapidated, crowded,
and unsanitary collective centers such as former hostels, schools,
kindergartens, and sanatoriums."
http://www.tol.org/client/article/24055-big-corruption-bust-in-poland-suspicious-activity-closes-a-russian-bank.html
From: A. Papazian
Transitions online, Czech Rep.
Nov 20 2013
Azerbaijan devotes more state funds to the needs of internal
refugees than any other country, EurasiaNet.org writes, citing the
International Crisis Group. In 2012 the government channeled 3 percent
of the budget to rehousing some of the hundreds of thousands who fled
Nagorno-Karabakh more than 20 years ago as Armenian forces occupied
the territory.
Last year, more than 10,000 refugees moved into new housing, the
Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) reports.
Yet these new homes "come with a catch," EurasiaNet.org writes. The
recipients "cannot sell, give as a gift, or transfer the apartments;
they are deemed temporary shelters and the government retains sole
ownership."
Meanwhile, Baku's official position, unchanged since the 1994
cease-fire, is that Armenia must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh,
which remains Azerbaijani territory under international law. Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov restated this demand this week, adding
that the "almost 1 million refugees and internally displaced people
should return to their place of origin."
Citing "observers", EurasiaNet.org writes that that position could
encourage the government to keep ownership of the properties so
that it can evict the refugees if they are ever able to return to
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Yet if that should happen, observers also wonder how many of these
people would want to return to the remote territory. Many of the
displaced have been rehoused in or around Baku, a city that has been
transformed by oil wealth.
The $4.4 billion Baku spent on refugees in the past decade, according
to the IDMC, far outweighs the amount the Armenian government can
devote to its own displaced people.
Armenian State Migration Service Director Gagik Yeganian recently
told EurasiaNet.org that $25 million is needed to provide housing for
refugees forced out of Azerbaijan during the conflict over Karabakh.
But his service has no budget to assist them, the website reports.
And even in comparatively wealthy Azerbaijan, most internal refugees
"are yet to benefit from government housing assistance," the IDMC
states. "More than 400,000 continue to live in dilapidated, crowded,
and unsanitary collective centers such as former hostels, schools,
kindergartens, and sanatoriums."
http://www.tol.org/client/article/24055-big-corruption-bust-in-poland-suspicious-activity-closes-a-russian-bank.html
From: A. Papazian