Police disperse a rally of Afghan migrants in Baku

About 40 migrants from Afghanistan, who do not have refugee status in Azerbaijan, tried to hold a protest action in Baku. They demanded that the UN should pay attention to their problems. The police took the participants of the unsanctioned action out of the park.

The protesters arrived in Azerbaijan not in connection with the latest events in Afghanistan, but in previous years. Many of them came to the country in order to leave for Europe later, the “Turan” news agency reports.

Earlier, the UNHCR in Azerbaijan has reported about the presence in the country of 1226 migrants from Afghanistan who do not have refugee status.

Togrul Juvarly, a member of the Azerbaijan National Public Committee for European Integration, believes there will be no large wave of refugees from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan. “In the early 2000s, when the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was also difficult, several hundred Afghans arrived in Azerbaijan and they left for Europe very soon. Now, against the backdrop of the pandemic, when land borders with the neighbouring countries are closed and there are very few flights, no influx of refugees should be expected,” Togrul Juvarly noted.

Mekhman Aliev, the director of the “Turan” news agency, does not rule out that a small number of Afghans who have business ties with Azerbaijan or studied there will try to move to Azerbaijan. “However, there will be not many of them, and their arrival will not become a serious humanitarian problem for Azerbaijan,” Mekhman Aliev said.