Residents of Azerbaijan demand to return home people from a camp in Dagestan

At least 30 Azerbaijani citizens have to rent housing in Dagestan while waiting for the opening of the border, and others live at their relatives’ places and in a temporary accommodation centre, human rights defender Afig Allakhverdiev reports. Former residents of a camp in Dagestan believe the people cannot return from Dagestan to their homeland, since the Azerbaijani authorities ignore their problems.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that a temporary accommodation centre (TAC) has been arranged on the territory of the “Ogonyok” children’s camp in the Kaitag District of Dagestan, which accommodates residents of Azerbaijan who are awaiting the opening of the Azerbaijani-Russian border.

In Dagestan, more than 30 Azerbaijani citizens lived in rented apartments and are awaiting the opening of the Russian-Azerbaijani border, says Afig Allakhverdiev, the head of the Foundation for Support and Development of Socially Significant Programmes and Projects “BIZ”. Other citizens of Azerbaijan who are waiting for the opening of the border stay with their relatives living in Dagestan. A third of the migrants are accommodated at the “Ogonyok” temporary camp, Afig Allakhverdiev adds.

Shakhriyar Safarov, a resident of Azerbaijan, says that last year the Azerbaijani authorities permitted citizens of the country staying in a temporary camp in Kular to return to their homeland. The people were allowed to enter Azerbaijan in groups. After crossing the border, the people were quarantined for 7-10 days in the Gusar District, and then they were allowed to leave Gusar. “Let them also organize the transition process now. There is nothing complicated in all that,” Shakhriyar Safarov believes.

Dostu Elsever, another resident of Azerbaijan, claims he believes it is possible to return home the residents of Azerbaijan staying at the temporary camp now. The Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Border Guard Service can organize a quarantine camp in the regions bordering with Russia and place migrants there, Dostu Elsever suggests.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 11, 2021 at 11:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.