Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.7 /Trend, T.Hajiyev/
Refugees and IDPs temporarily residing in hostels in Baku want to move to settlements that have been especially built for them, Deputy Prime Minister, head of the State Refugees and IDP Committee Ali Hasanov said today.
He said rumors are false that IDPs and refugees are refusing to move from their hostels.
"No one is refusing to move," he said. "On the contrary, about 10,000 IDPs and refugees submitted applications asking us to accelerate the process. Some 10-12 people are living in one room in these hostels. It is very difficult to live in such a situation."
Hasanov said the process will start from next year.
Nearly 100,000 refugees and IDPs have been resettled in new villages thus far. Some 11,000 are refugees and 89,000 are IDPs.
Over 1 million refugees and IDPs live in Azerbaijan due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the United States - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions