Refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan

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Statistically speaking, more than one eighth of the Azerbaijani population has refugee status due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . Azerbaijan was temporarily the country with the highest proportion of refugees and internally displaced persons in its total population. The motherland party , which supports the authoritarian course of President Ilcham Aliyev , acts as the political representative of the Azeris from Armenia .

Azerbaijani refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993

Refugees from Armenia

UNHCR estimates that almost 200,000 Azerbaijanis in Armenia before the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were almost completely expelled by the local Armenian authorities after the pogroms in Azerbaijan against the Armenians in Sumgait (1988) and Baku (1990) or before violent attacks in Azerbaijan fled. The number of Muslims who fled Armenia and who were not Azeris must also be added to these figures. The Azerbaijani authorities have differing numbers from 200,000 to 250,000 refugees called from Armenia, but they tend, for political reasons to them with the internally displaced persons (such as the due to the massacre of Khojaly to combine from Karabakh escaped).

After a new citizenship law was passed in 1998, most of the Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia applied for Azerbaijani citizenship. According to UNHCR estimates, by the end of 2001 most of them had already obtained citizenship or were at least in the process of naturalization.

Refugees from Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding areas

According to analyzes by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), there are 569,000 internally displaced people in Azerbaijan . The Azeris were expelled around Nagorno-Karabakh during the war with Armenia . Approx. 40,000 from Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied 560,000 from the surrounding seven Azerbaijani regions - Kelbecer , Fizuli , Gubadli , Jabrail , Lachin , Zengilan and Agdam .

According to the 1989 Soviet census, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region had 40,688 Azerbaijanis before the war, making up a quarter of Nagorno-Karabakh's total population. In the course of the war, all Azerbaijanis from Nagorno-Karabakh were expelled or fled. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , there were 578,545 internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan in 2005.

Total number

For political reasons, the Azerbaijani authorities usually give combined figures for internally and externally displaced persons of over one million people. If one takes the figures determined by the UNHCR of around 200,000 Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia plus the other Muslims who have fled and the around 580,000 internally displaced persons, the total number is roughly 800,000.

Mutual ethnic cleansing

During the Nagorno-Karabakh War, extensive ethnic cleansing was carried out on both sides - Armenians and Azerbaijanis - in the conquered areas with an ethnically "hostile" population . The flight and displacement of Azerbaijanis, who previously made up around 25% of the total population of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast , turned the area under the control of the Artsakh Republic into a region of extreme ethnic homogeneity. According to a 2005 census in Nagorno-Karabakh, 99.7% of the population was ethnic Armenians. Conversely, almost none of the 352,400 Armenians of Azerbaijan living outside the Autonomous Oblast in 1979 remained in the area under the control of the Republic of Azerbaijan .

Burden on the economy

According to government statements, spending on refugees and internally displaced persons amounts to 3% of the country's gross domestic product annually .

Standard of living

The internally displaced persons do not enjoy freedom of movement. The government limits the refugees' ability to move into cities. According to a study published by the World Bank in 2010 , 35% of the refugees lived in settlements that had been created for them, but for which they were not granted permanent housing rights. The remaining refugees, who were not financially able to provide housing themselves, lived in collection centers, with relatives and in abandoned apartments. Between 2004 and the end of 2007, the Azerbaijani government built 57 settlements with a total of 16,790 houses. In December 2007 the last emergency camp closed. More than one in three refugees has little access to heating . The majority of refugees do not have permanent access to water , electricity or heating. While around 11% of the refugees are considered poor, similar to the rest of the population, this number fluctuates within the internally displaced people depending on where they live. While 9.1% of the refugees in Baku are at risk of poverty, 50% of those considered poor live in other cities, where 18.3% of the refugees are considered poor. In the early 1990s, unemployment was the biggest problem for refugees and internally displaced people in Azerbaijan. According to estimates by the Azerbaijani State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, 42% of internally displaced persons have permanent jobs, 48% have temporary jobs and 10% are unemployed . In 2007, around 530,000 internally displaced persons received financial aid from the government. Fewer internally displaced children and young people attend schools than the rest of the population. This is attributed to various factors such as a lack of school books and clothing, a lack of transport, the long distances between the refugee settlements and schools, and the early marriage of female refugee girls. Due to the temporary residence status of the refugees, they have difficulties buying property, land and shops. According to the UNHCR, this financial and legal barrier hinders long-term participation in social and economic life. Many internally displaced people depend on help with nutrition. In 2007, 33% of families had a good, 61% sufficient and 6% poor supply of food.

Support to the European Union and other organizations

The European Union supports Azerbaijan through the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument in post-conflict situations, including aid for refugees and displaced persons. The EU is helping Azerbaijan to strengthen the capacity of the State Committee on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons. A number of UN organizations and other aid organizations are also represented in Azerbaijan and support the government on the issue of internally displaced persons, including the UNDP , the International Organization for Migration , the World Bank , the International Monetary Fund , UNICEF , the WHO and the United Nations Population Fund .

Support to the Azerbaijani government

Azerbaijan has made significant strides in improving the standard of living of refugees and internally displaced persons in recent years due to increasing income from energy exports. World Bank statistics for 2010 show that 73% of refugees and internally displaced persons derive their livelihood mainly from government support.

In 2011, food supplies for internally displaced people were improved with approximately US $ 1 million in funding from the Azerbaijani government. In 2018, the Azerbaijani government is spending almost 150 million US dollars on the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in order to improve the standard of living of refugees and internally displaced persons and to build new residential areas.

Use of living space by displaced Armenians

The flight and expulsion of Armenians from Azerbaijan to Armenia , Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia also freed up housing for Azerbaijani internally displaced persons. According to Human Rights Watch , an estimated 350,000 Armenians fled in two waves in 1988 and 1990 after several pogroms in Sumgait (1988), Kirowabad (1988) and Baku (1990), among others . By 1991 a total of 500,000 people had already left Azerbaijan. In 1991 in Operation Ring and in June 1992 in a successful Azerbaijani offensive, around 17,000 Armenians from the previously almost entirely Armenian- speaking Shahumyan Raion were forced to leave the country. In the following years, Shaumyanovsk, the former Nerkin Shen, which was given the new Azerbaijani name Aşağı Ağcakənd in 1992, was populated with Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia and internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas.

Return in 1994 recaptured areas

Shortly before the conclusion of the ceasefire in 1994, the Azerbaijani armed forces succeeded in retaking parts of the Fizuli district, which had been completely occupied by the Karabakh Armenians for four months, with 22 of a total of 76 villages. The population from Fizuli was accommodated in several tent camps in Bilasuvar. Between 1995 and 1998 about 49,000 people returned to Fizuli. In 2003, after five tent camps were closed in Bilasuvar, another 32,000 people followed.

Permanent solutions - return or integration

According to UNHCR surveys between 2005 and 2010, most internally displaced persons wanted to return to their old homeland, but many were undecided. In particular, younger people under the age of 25, i.e. people who grew up far from Nagorno-Karabakh, and especially women, would rather continue to live in their current place of residence. However, some displaced people emphatically pass on their will to return to their children born in their new home.

The Azerbaijani government considers the return of the refugees to be the only acceptable option and therefore rejects measures for permanent integration. Officially, it only offers limited and temporary solutions to keep internally displaced persons willing to return. That is why “city administrations in exile” continue to operate under the name of the abandoned cities in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding area, which also operate their own separate schools. Although the United Nations emphasized that integration with improving living conditions and the possibility of return are by no means mutually exclusive, the Azerbaijani government is against measures for local integration. Another obstacle to integration that is desired by the state is, for example, restricted freedom of movement and the fact that the government does not offer the displaced persons land or apartments as property.

According to a study of internally displaced persons nationwide, around 33% of those surveyed were assimilated in the local population, another 30% were comparatively integrated, around 36% not integrated and the rest were marginalized. According to other studies, it was the internally displaced persons in Baku and other large cities in particular who were apparently well integrated. In rural areas, where the refugee settlements were often set up in isolation from other localities, integration tends not to occur.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Heiko Langner: Crisis Zone South Caucasus - Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia . In: Security Policy . 1st edition. tape 1 . Dr. Köster, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89574-702-1 , p. 21, 22 .
  2. ↑ a b Uwe Halbach, Franziska Smolnik: The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. Specific characteristics and the conflicting parties. Science and Politics Foundation German Institute for International Politics and Security, February 2013, accessed on January 10, 2018 .
  3. ↑ International Protection Considerations Regarding Armenian Asylum-Seekers and Refugees ( Memento of April 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Geneva, September 2003.
  4. ↑ a b Sergey Rumyansev: Refugees and Forced Migrants in Azerbaijan: the Political Context. CARIM-East Explanatory Note 13/115, Socio-Political Module, September 2013.
  5. ↑ International Protection Considerations Regarding Azerbaijani Asylum-Seekers and Refugees. UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 2003.
  6. ^ IDMC Azerbaijan IDP Figures Analysis. ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 2014, accessed January 13, 2018. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / internal-displacement.org
  7. ↑ a b Tackling Azerbaijan's IDP Burden . In: Crisis Group . February 27, 2012 ( crisisgroup.org [accessed December 21, 2017]).
  8. ^ Cornell: The Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh: Dynamics and Resolution Prospects. P. 439.
  9. ↑ Human Rights Watch: Azerbaijan, Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. New York, December 1994.
  10. ↑ Tim Potier: Nagorno-Karabakh: getting closer to a solution - step by step. Pp. 223–235 , accessed January 10, 2018 .
  11. ↑ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: 2005 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook Country Data Sheet - Azerbaijan . In: UNHCR . ( unhcr.org [accessed January 10, 2018]).
  12. ↑ General Assembly, 59 Session, Agenda Item 163, The Situation in the Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan. A / 59/586.
  13. ↑ Этнический состав Азербайджана (по переписи 1999 года) Этнический состав Азербайджана (по переписи 1999 года) ( Memento of 21 August 2013, Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ a b World Bank: Azerbaijan - Building Assets and Promoting Self Reliance: The Livelihoods of Internally Displaced Persons . October 1, 2011 ( worldbank.org [accessed January 10, 2018]).
  15. ↑ a b c d UNHCR Azerbaijan: Analysis of Gaps in the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 2009, accessed January 13, 2018. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / internal-displacement.org
  16. ↑ UNHCR Azerbaijan closes last of emergency camps , February 2008, accessed January 13, 2018.
  17. ↑ World Bank, Azerbaijan: Living Conditions Assessment Report, No. 52801-AZ, March 1, 2010.
  18. ^ Crisis Group Interview with representatives of the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Baku, July 31, 2011.
  19. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down general provisions for the creation of a European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument, OJ. L 310, October 24, 2006, 1-14.
  20. ↑ EU-Azerbaijan ENP Action Plan ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 14, 2006. Accessed January 10, 2018 (German) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pedz.uni-mannheim.de
  21. ^ World Bank, Azerbaijan: Living Conditions Assessment Report, March 1, 2010, para. 3.22, p. 35.
  22. ↑ Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Enforcement of the State Budget Law , Baku, December 25, 2017, № 1756
  23. ^ Human Rights Watch : Azerbaijan: seven years of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh . Humans Rights Watch, New York 1994, ISBN 1-56432-142-8 .
  24. ↑ Thomas de Waal: Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York University Press, New York 2003, pp. 116, 194f. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7 .
  25. ↑ Azerbaijan with Excursions to Georgia , Trailblazer, Hindhead (UK) 2004, p. 245.
  26. ^ Azerbaijan: After some 20 years, IDPs still face barriers to self-reliance. ( Memento of the original from January 25, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.internal-displacement.org archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , International Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), December 2010, p. 105.
  27. ↑ a b c Azerbaijan: After some 20 years, IDPs still face barriers to self-reliance. ( Memento of the original from January 25, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.internal-displacement.org archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , International Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), December 2010, pp. 107–110.