On the practice of implementing the state policy on refugees and internally displaced persons in the Republic of Azerbaijan

the article examines the stages of development, the main directions and the accumulated experience of implementing the policy towards refugees and internally displaced persons in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The article considers a general analysis of the problems of refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan in the context of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, which began in 1988 and ended in 2023. It is indicated that in the period from 1988 to 1992, 250,000 Azerbaijanis who had historically lived in Armenia were deported from Armenia, and in 1990, about 50,000 Meskhetian Turks who were expelled from Central Asia found refuge in Azerbaijan. After the occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory as a result of armed aggression by the Armenian armed forces, more than 600,000 Azerbaijanis became internally displaced. Thus, the total number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the country has reached 1,200,000 people. During this period, the Republic of Azerbaijan has developed a national policy towards refugees and internally displaced persons. There is a special State committee within the Government that deals with issues related to refugees and internally displaced persons. A national legislative framework has been created, and a law defining the legal status of refugees and internally displaced persons has been adopted. If in the early stages the solution of the problems of refugees and internally displaced persons, especially their resettlement and provision of food, was mainly carried out by international organizations, then over time these issues fell mainly on the shoulders of the Azerbaijani state. After the second Karabakh War (2020), the implementation of the “Big Return” program began to return internally displaced persons to their native lands.

refugees and internally displaced persons, Republic of Azerbaijan, state policy, historical experience, conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh