Azerbaijani Refugees Angered by Resettlement Plan

Azerbaijani refugees in Baku say efforts to close their camps and resettle them outside the capital will lose them their jobs and force them to start their disrupted lives all over again.



The refugees, who were driven from their homes when Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny Karabakh and neighbouring lands in the 1992-94 war, have largely had to fend for themselves and live wherever they can in the years since active hostilities ended.



But now the government of Azerbaijan says it is time for them to move on from their ad hoc homes. It wants to empty the tent encampments, railcar homes, workers’ hostels and hotels they have occupied, despite their protests that they have built new lives there.



Going back to their original homes is not an option as the Armenians have held onto the territory they captured. So far there has been little movement on the dispute, despite protracted international attempts to find a solution to whether the self-described Karabakh republic should be allowed to become a fully-fledged state or be brought back under the control of Azerbaijan, whose sovereignty over the territory is still internationally recognised.



“If they decide to move us out of this hostel, I will rent an apartment in Baku rather than go to the countryside,” said Gullu Gulieva, a refugee from the Fizuli district near Karabakh. Part of Fizuli has been under Armenian control since the war.



Ali Hasanov, chief of the official committee in charge of for refugees and IDPs, previously promised that all the temporary camps would be closed by 2006, but the date has slipped.



Now the government is promising that all the internally displaced persons, IDPs, will get homes in new settlements in rural areas, but the refugees remain mistrustful about the offer.



“I work here. Over the past few years, I have created a way for myself to live,” said Gulieva. “I have relatives who have already moved to these new areas, and they say there aren’t proper living conditions there. They aren’t allowed to keep livestock and there’s no work. How are they supposed to live there?”



One of the refugees’ major concerns is a decree issued by the late president Heidar Aliev which said they should be granted ownership rights over land and homes they have occupied. This led to property disputes.



“In view of the dreadful situation the IDPs found themselves in, Heidar Aliev issued an order that the real estate they occupied should become their lawful possession,” explained member of parliament Hadi Rajabli, adding that the government now needed to find a solution to this issue.



The deal might be good for refugees like Sevda Musayeva, who has been living in three rooms in a sanatorium and will have the right to claim compensation for improvements she has made to the rooms if she is forced to move on.



But the issue is more complicated when it comes to private homes.



Baku residents say that some of the IDPs seized flats after the date of the late president’s ruling, and that others have refused to give back property they acquired unlawfully.



Khatura Azizova, for example, says she has been unable to evict IDPs from her apartment ever since they started squatting there in 1993. She has lived with her mother and in rented flats since then.



“My husband became an invalid after taking part in the clear-up after the [1986] Chernobyl accident, and he was awarded a flat as a result,” she said. “In 1993, our flat was seized by refugees from Aghdam. We went to court, and in view of my husband’s disability and our children’s inherited problems, our claim was upheld twice.



“Moreover, the refugee family was given a new place to live. But so far, they have refused to leave our apartment – they cite Heidar Aliev’s order.”



Azizova said she had appealed to refugee agency head Hasanov and other officials, all to no avail.



“I understand that the IDPs are in a difficult situation, but no one wants to understand my family’s circumstances, which are even more terrible,” she complained.



Amid the competing ownership claims, many refugees say they will not move unless they are guaranteed living conditions that are equivalent to their original homes. Those now living in camps argue that the new residential areas created for them away from Baku are scarcely better than the places they would be leaving behind.



“The state is obliged to ensure proper living conditions for citizens who are forced to leave their homes,” said Himayat Rizvanqizy, the head of Himayadar, a group that monitors refugee issues. “Unfortunately, despite the large funds being allocated, conditions in the new areas allocated to the refugees are little different from those in the tent camps. Our monitoring indicates that their rights to education, employment, medical care and other social rights will not be guaranteed there.”



Most importantly, she said, there was no guarantee of security for those people who would be settled in areas close to Armenian-held territory.



Lala Izmailova, another IDP from Fizuli, said she was not prepared to move anywhere where conflict was a possibility.



“The new districts have problems with transport, roads, water, gas, electricity, telephone lines and so on. If the state cannot provide decent living conditions for us, then they should allow us to live on our own. I am not going to risk the lives of my children by moving to live near the front line,” she said.



Legal expert Alovsat Allahverdiev agreed that it would be wrong to make the IDPs move to high-risk areas close to the frozen line of conflict. “To do so before the two sides have sorted out their relations would be a gross violation of human rights,” he said.



Some of the refugees said they wished the Azerbaijani government would just leave them alone.



“I am sick and tired of always having to move on somewhere. I only have one life, and I have a right to live it as a human being,” said Gulieva.



“For fifteen years now, we’ve been taking care of ourselves without getting help by anyone…. They should give us a chance to try to live as human beings.”



Shahla Abusattar is a member of the Investigative Journalists’ Network.