Refugees from Azerbaijan demand separate queue for housing in Stepanakert

Before the war, Karabakh authorities promised housing to refugees from Azerbaijan, who had been on the waiting list for more than 30 years, but now officials have forgotten about them and are busy only with the housing problem of new forced migrants, refugees have complained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that with the onset of the Karabakh conflict in late 1980s, more than 120,000 Armenian refugees arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh. Now, 30 years after, up to 500 families from among them have not received any housing yet.

After the 44-day war in the fall of 2020, Karabakh authorities began paying more attention to the refugees from the territories that came under Azerbaijan's control as a result of the hostilities than to the refugees of late 1980s-early 1990s, Saro Saryan, the head of the Union of Refugees of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, has stated.

The refugees who fled Azerbaijan in the early years of the Karabakh conflict demand from Nagorno-Karabakh authorities to fulfil their promises that made during the election campaign in the spring of 2020. Then, authorities promised to solve the refugees' long-term social problems, but after the autumn war, this issue is no longer raised.

The priority right to housing should be granted to the families who are today in most constrained conditions, the forced migrants believe.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 19, 2021 at 02:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.