Karabakh Refugees Take Dim View of New Homes
They say living conditions in new settlements provided by authorities almost unbearable.
Karabakh Refugees Take Dim View of New Homes
They say living conditions in new settlements provided by authorities almost unbearable.
The Beylaqan region, in south Azerbaijan, borders the Armenian-controlled breakaway enclave of Nagorny Karabakh.
On the southern border of the region, a ridge of low-lying mountains divides the country from Iran.
Locals say they can hear the Iranians recite their plaintive prayers during Muharram, the month of mourning observed by Shiah Muslims.
But no one hears their prayers and complaints, say the people of Birinji Shahsevan, a village whose population has now been swollen by refugees from Nagorny Karabakh.
Refugees who used to live in the village schoolhouse are unhappy with the new homes that have been built specially for them.
“The walls of our houses are only 20 centimetres thick, which is why they cracked after only three years,” complained Ahliman Qamberli, a refugee from the Karabakh district of Lachin.
“It’s very difficult to remain a healthy person in these houses.”
Some refugees have been able to fix up their houses independently but most cannot afford such an expense.
One 80-year-old woman, also a refugee from Lachin, lives alone in a damp two-room house. “The foundations of my house are made of cement, which makes it very cold here in winter,” she said.
“I have no place where I can go to warm up. The conditions in the school where we used to live were better. Now, we live on a concrete floor.”
The nine new houses for the refugees were built with money from the Norwegian Council of Refugees under the management of the local municipality.
Refugees say repeated attempts to get the local authorities to address their problems have come to nothing.
The new head of the local administration, Elkhan Hasanov, who only took up his post a month ago, told IWPR he was ready to help them – but they needed to officially apply to the local authority first.
“It’s true we received complaints and we went and examined the terrain together with representatives of the ministry for emergencies whose conclusion we are now awaiting,” he said.
“Later, we will start work, depending on what this conclusion will be. But while repairing these houses lies within our zone of responsibility, the residents have to make an official application for us to start helping them.”
Allahverdi Azizov, head of the local department of the state committee for refugees and displaced persons, ascribes the refugees’ problems with damp to the underground waters running close to the surface of the earth in the territory of the settlement.
Another cause of damp is that people were moved into the buildings before the walls had had enough time to dry off.
“These houses were built in a hurry to allow the school to get back to work,” Azizov said. “But, of course, refugees whose houses are in a poor state ought to be helped.”
The refugees at Birinji Shahsevan have problems with gas, electricity and water supplies as well.
“We heat our houses with firewood that we buy on our own,” said Ruqiyya Khudaverdiyeva. “Those who have no money to buy firewood use dry dung. How can this kind of life be possible in the 21st century?”
She says that having an uninterrupted electricity supply on important days, when the community is holding weddings or funerals, is a luxury they have to pay dear for.
“We even have to buy our water,” Ruqiyya added. “Forty litres of water cost 1 manat (just under one euro). Some of us pay with rice and some with other produce.”
The refugees say that where they used to live, after they first reached Birinji Shahsevan, they had no such problems with power supplies.
“There was both water and electricity there,” Hiliza Mammadova said. “But in the new settlement, there’s neither water, nor electricity. There are no jobs either.”
The two-room house of Tumas Allahverdiyev, a refugee from the Fizuli district of Karabakh, shelters no less than four families – those of his three sons as well as his own.
“My sons cannot afford to move out and live separately together with their families – we’ve been eking out an existence,” he said.
“There is not a single authority that we haven’t already applied to. We’ve met with chairman of the municipality and the government’s representative in Birinji Shahsevan but with no success.
“We even sent a letter to the president but have received no response as yet.”
The refugees say they also stopped receiving much-needed free food parcels two months ago. These contained rice, flour, vegetable oil and sugar.
Allahverdi Azizov blames this unwelcome development on cutbacks made by foreign donor countries.
“In the Beylaqan region, 680 refugees used to receive food assistance including around 250 in Birinji Shahsevan,” he confirmed.
“The assistance was part of the United Nations World Food Programme but it stopped after donor countries stopped financing it. We are now working on the issue.”
The village’s only hospital has to serve the needs of 10,000 people. The senior doctor, Faiq Mammadov, says demand for their services is large while conditions are poor.
“We have no medical equipment meeting modern requirements and can’t carry out surgical operations here,” he said.
“Power cuts are frequent, so we have to rely on generators to power the hospital.”
The six doctors working in the hospital have to make house calls as well as attend to the in-patients. But the building looks sadly neglected; windowpanes are broken and wards are cold.
“We warm the premises with white oil but the smell of it burning has an adverse affect on our patients,” Dr Mammadov said.
There is only one kindergarten in the village, which also serves as a children’s home. This building is also badly in need of repair.
A small boy named Rashid can be seen playing with a toy car he brought with him from home.
Seeing us, he retreats shyly into a corner of the playing room. Nyubar Huseynova, director of the kindergarten, says she wishes her charges could enjoy the same conditions as those attending kindergartens in towns.
There are three secondary schools in Birinji Shahsevan. But the children of the refugees mostly one on the outskirts of the village, prompting complaints that it is too far from their homes.
“We get covered in mud before we even reach the school,” one pupil said. “I leave home at 8 am but it takes me at least half an hour to get to school, so I often come late. We want to study in warm schools with good conditions.”
Meanwhile, Shahzada Maharramova, a refugee from Fizuli, bemoans the lack of jobs in the village for her children.
She lives in a house together with ten other people on pension of 75 manats a month.
“One of my sons went to seek a job outside the village,” she recalled. “But one of his sons then became ill and died. His other child is now ill, too. It’s impossible to live in these conditions.”
Nazim Khudaverdiyev, from Lachim, is also unemployed. “I’ve had to work seasonally in Baku,” he said.
“The only jobs you can find here are poorly paid and the money is not enough even to buy bread. That is why I have to go to the city.”
Vahid Nasirov, assistant to Safar Mammadov, the parliamentary deputy for the Beylaqan region, insists his boss frequently visits locals – although the refugees claim that they have never seen him once.
Nasirov disputes claims that jobs are not plentiful in the area around Birunji Shahsevan.
“Two cotton-processing plants opened there recently,” he noted. “There’s a bakery, too, as well as several trading centres.
“Besides, the residents all have plots of land to work. New fruit- and vegetable-processing factories and a dairy will open there by the end of the year.
“We’ve been successful in drawing the attention of some businessmen from Baku to the area.”
Nasirov says construction of more homes for refugees is under way and will be completed by the end of this year.
Overall, he dismisses claims that living conditions in the refugee settlements are poor.
“The residents of the new settlements are given 600 square metres each and conditions are very good there,” he said. “As for the power problems, when new power lines are extended there soon, the supply will be uninterrupted. The water problem, too, will be solved by the end of the year.”
Elshan Qambarli, 15, son of refugees from Lachin and born in the village, is not so sure.
His leisure hours are rare, as he has to work in the garden, the main source of sustenance for his family of seven. “It’s particularly difficult in the winter. The roads are in a terrible state,” he said.
But Elshan hopes improvements will come to their community one day.
“I want to go onto higher education after I finish school, become a PE teacher and then work here in the village,” he said. “But it would be good if the conditions became better.”
Sabina Vagifqyzy is a correspondent with Radio Liberty.
On the southern border of the region, a ridge of low-lying mountains divides the country from Iran.
Locals say they can hear the Iranians recite their plaintive prayers during Muharram, the month of mourning observed by Shiah Muslims.
But no one hears their prayers and complaints, say the people of Birinji Shahsevan, a village whose population has now been swollen by refugees from Nagorny Karabakh.
Refugees who used to live in the village schoolhouse are unhappy with the new homes that have been built specially for them.
“The walls of our houses are only 20 centimetres thick, which is why they cracked after only three years,” complained Ahliman Qamberli, a refugee from the Karabakh district of Lachin.
“It’s very difficult to remain a healthy person in these houses.”
Some refugees have been able to fix up their houses independently but most cannot afford such an expense.
One 80-year-old woman, also a refugee from Lachin, lives alone in a damp two-room house. “The foundations of my house are made of cement, which makes it very cold here in winter,” she said.
“I have no place where I can go to warm up. The conditions in the school where we used to live were better. Now, we live on a concrete floor.”
The nine new houses for the refugees were built with money from the Norwegian Council of Refugees under the management of the local municipality.
Refugees say repeated attempts to get the local authorities to address their problems have come to nothing.
The new head of the local administration, Elkhan Hasanov, who only took up his post a month ago, told IWPR he was ready to help them – but they needed to officially apply to the local authority first.
“It’s true we received complaints and we went and examined the terrain together with representatives of the ministry for emergencies whose conclusion we are now awaiting,” he said.
“Later, we will start work, depending on what this conclusion will be. But while repairing these houses lies within our zone of responsibility, the residents have to make an official application for us to start helping them.”
Allahverdi Azizov, head of the local department of the state committee for refugees and displaced persons, ascribes the refugees’ problems with damp to the underground waters running close to the surface of the earth in the territory of the settlement.
Another cause of damp is that people were moved into the buildings before the walls had had enough time to dry off.
“These houses were built in a hurry to allow the school to get back to work,” Azizov said. “But, of course, refugees whose houses are in a poor state ought to be helped.”
The refugees at Birinji Shahsevan have problems with gas, electricity and water supplies as well.
“We heat our houses with firewood that we buy on our own,” said Ruqiyya Khudaverdiyeva. “Those who have no money to buy firewood use dry dung. How can this kind of life be possible in the 21st century?”
She says that having an uninterrupted electricity supply on important days, when the community is holding weddings or funerals, is a luxury they have to pay dear for.
“We even have to buy our water,” Ruqiyya added. “Forty litres of water cost 1 manat (just under one euro). Some of us pay with rice and some with other produce.”
The refugees say that where they used to live, after they first reached Birinji Shahsevan, they had no such problems with power supplies.
“There was both water and electricity there,” Hiliza Mammadova said. “But in the new settlement, there’s neither water, nor electricity. There are no jobs either.”
The two-room house of Tumas Allahverdiyev, a refugee from the Fizuli district of Karabakh, shelters no less than four families – those of his three sons as well as his own.
“My sons cannot afford to move out and live separately together with their families – we’ve been eking out an existence,” he said.
“There is not a single authority that we haven’t already applied to. We’ve met with chairman of the municipality and the government’s representative in Birinji Shahsevan but with no success.
“We even sent a letter to the president but have received no response as yet.”
The refugees say they also stopped receiving much-needed free food parcels two months ago. These contained rice, flour, vegetable oil and sugar.
Allahverdi Azizov blames this unwelcome development on cutbacks made by foreign donor countries.
“In the Beylaqan region, 680 refugees used to receive food assistance including around 250 in Birinji Shahsevan,” he confirmed.
“The assistance was part of the United Nations World Food Programme but it stopped after donor countries stopped financing it. We are now working on the issue.”
The village’s only hospital has to serve the needs of 10,000 people. The senior doctor, Faiq Mammadov, says demand for their services is large while conditions are poor.
“We have no medical equipment meeting modern requirements and can’t carry out surgical operations here,” he said.
“Power cuts are frequent, so we have to rely on generators to power the hospital.”
The six doctors working in the hospital have to make house calls as well as attend to the in-patients. But the building looks sadly neglected; windowpanes are broken and wards are cold.
“We warm the premises with white oil but the smell of it burning has an adverse affect on our patients,” Dr Mammadov said.
There is only one kindergarten in the village, which also serves as a children’s home. This building is also badly in need of repair.
A small boy named Rashid can be seen playing with a toy car he brought with him from home.
Seeing us, he retreats shyly into a corner of the playing room. Nyubar Huseynova, director of the kindergarten, says she wishes her charges could enjoy the same conditions as those attending kindergartens in towns.
There are three secondary schools in Birinji Shahsevan. But the children of the refugees mostly one on the outskirts of the village, prompting complaints that it is too far from their homes.
“We get covered in mud before we even reach the school,” one pupil said. “I leave home at 8 am but it takes me at least half an hour to get to school, so I often come late. We want to study in warm schools with good conditions.”
Meanwhile, Shahzada Maharramova, a refugee from Fizuli, bemoans the lack of jobs in the village for her children.
She lives in a house together with ten other people on pension of 75 manats a month.
“One of my sons went to seek a job outside the village,” she recalled. “But one of his sons then became ill and died. His other child is now ill, too. It’s impossible to live in these conditions.”
Nazim Khudaverdiyev, from Lachim, is also unemployed. “I’ve had to work seasonally in Baku,” he said.
“The only jobs you can find here are poorly paid and the money is not enough even to buy bread. That is why I have to go to the city.”
Vahid Nasirov, assistant to Safar Mammadov, the parliamentary deputy for the Beylaqan region, insists his boss frequently visits locals – although the refugees claim that they have never seen him once.
Nasirov disputes claims that jobs are not plentiful in the area around Birunji Shahsevan.
“Two cotton-processing plants opened there recently,” he noted. “There’s a bakery, too, as well as several trading centres.
“Besides, the residents all have plots of land to work. New fruit- and vegetable-processing factories and a dairy will open there by the end of the year.
“We’ve been successful in drawing the attention of some businessmen from Baku to the area.”
Nasirov says construction of more homes for refugees is under way and will be completed by the end of this year.
Overall, he dismisses claims that living conditions in the refugee settlements are poor.
“The residents of the new settlements are given 600 square metres each and conditions are very good there,” he said. “As for the power problems, when new power lines are extended there soon, the supply will be uninterrupted. The water problem, too, will be solved by the end of the year.”
Elshan Qambarli, 15, son of refugees from Lachin and born in the village, is not so sure.
His leisure hours are rare, as he has to work in the garden, the main source of sustenance for his family of seven. “It’s particularly difficult in the winter. The roads are in a terrible state,” he said.
But Elshan hopes improvements will come to their community one day.
“I want to go onto higher education after I finish school, become a PE teacher and then work here in the village,” he said. “But it would be good if the conditions became better.”
Sabina Vagifqyzy is a correspondent with Radio Liberty.
