Together with 22 other youths, I traveled to the hinterlands of Azerbaijan. The purpose was based on a project “New Aprroach to the Refugees Problems” initiated by the Baku International Students Club (BISC). The project activity was financed by the Azerbaijan NGO support fund from the presidential office and BISC was assisted technically by International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF).
The trip took us to Fizuli, Agdam, Tartar, and Goranbouy regions of Azerbaijan. The purpose was to learn the experiences of the Internal Displaced Persons of Azerbaijan who live their lives as Refugees in own country and as a result publish a book based on written essays on learned experiences. These IDPs were victims of the Azerbaijan/ Armenia war of 1992 that brought about the occupation of the Azerbaijan territorial land by Armenia up until today.
On this trip I and my other friends who were from China, Turkey, Iraq, France, Germany, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and the Azeri locals were told lots of eyewitness stories of the incident. A particular case was our encounter with the Displaced Persons from Khojaly and Azerbaijanis who were forcefully removed from Armenia. We meet these groups of IDPs in the Agcakend region of Azerbaijan also referred to as new khjoaly.
Personal I was astonished by the beauty of the place where they present reside –New Khojaly. The snow that covered the entire mountain made the environment seems heavenly, but the inhabitants were quick to tell me that this beauty was nothing to be compared to the homeland –the presently occupied Khojaly territory.
We were also at the Zovchiq I & II settlements in the Horandis District of Azerbaijan. These settlements are relatively new, constructed by the Azerbaijan government and awarded to the refugees who all the while since after the war had been living in deplorably tents and camps.
Of course from what I saw, I can personal say that the Azerbaijan government is indeed doing a good job to better the living conditions of the refugees. Although much more remains to be done though to ensure that the refugees are well integrated into the main Azerbaijan society.
Despite this good effort of the government and the up to modern standard living homes provided, these IDPs still feel that they are not yet at home. It entail that more orientation has to be carried out, more government provisions in the spheres of creating employment opportunities and then finally a peaceful solution has to be reached on the re-acquisition of the Azerbaijan territories.
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