THEY LOST THEIR HOMES BUT NOT THEIR HOPE

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
27 March 07

In 2006 155 families, 487 people, including 66 children, migrated to
NKR from Armenia and other countries, said Serge Amirkhanian, the head
of the Department for Migration, Resettlement and Refugees, in an
interview with the Azat Artsakh. In the framework of the resettlement
program, 105 houses were built and 38 were repaired in different
regions of the country, he said. In answer to our question who the
migrants are and if there is a target group, Serge Amirkhanian said:
`The majority of migrants are the refugees who had gone to live in
Armenia and other countries. Only in Armenia there are at least 35
thousand refugee families. In fact, there is no difference between
these families and the refugee families who came to NKR. However, from
the very beginning the migrants were favored, and for some time the
problems of refugees did not get due attention. From 2004 the refugee
families get the same privileges as the migrants after amendments to
the legislation. As to a target group, we need to involve all our 500
thousand Armenians who left Azerbaijan for different countries.’
According to Serge Amirkhanian, there is a list of areas included in
the resettlement program based on the principle of decentralization.

For instance, of the abovementioned 143 houses 52 are in Shahumian, 28
in Martakert, 17 in Askeran, etc. Another principle of resettlement is
to provide the regions with specialists they lack. As to refugees,
about 3840 families are registered with the department. `In 2008-2010
the focus will be on the problem of housing of refugees. Currently
500-600 families are facing this problem.

In 2006 26 houses were built and repaired for refugees, including 11
in Stepanakert. Besides, 24 apartments were bought for invited
workers,’ said Serge Amirkhanian. 1022.8 million drams was spent on
this program in 2006. The department continued registration of
refugees. The refugees get special certificates on their status. Serge
Amirkhanian says the document provided by the government of NKR is not
recognized in the world, but the department intends to turn to the
relevant bodies in Armenia to recognize the rights of the refugees
registered by us. According to Serge Amirkhanian, presently the
Department for Migration and the NKR foreign ministry fill in special
questionnaires including details on the damage inflicted on the given
family or person. A copy of each questionnaire is sent to the UN
Yerevan office for the refugees. Last year 26 houses were built for
refugees, including 11 in Ajapniak, an outskirt of Stepanakert, but
the families of refugees refuse to live in these houses. `We intend
to provide apartments to the refugees living at the dormitory of
Artsakh State University to return the dormitory to the students. In
2007 another 12 houses will be built for refugees. As to the
complaints of these families, I think they are not realistic. They
have lived in the center of the city for 17-18 years and now some of
them cannot get used to the idea of living in Ajapniak. Ajapniak is
not a village, it is a district of the city. We hope we will come to a
compromise on this issue,’ said Serge Amirkhanian.

NORAIR HOVSEPIAN.
27-03-2007