11/07/2002

An estimated 200,000 ethnic Azeris fled from Armenia to Azerbaijan between 1988 and 1991 when fighting erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh. Both Azeris and Armenians claim historic ownership of the region, located within the boundaries of Azerbaijan but populated largely by Armenians. The ethnic Azeris were eventually granted prima facie refugee status and conferred citizen rights. The refugees have largely integrated and face no threat of forced repatriation. Some communities conducted house exchanges with Armenian residents who fled the homes in Azerbaijan. Because many of these families still live in "temporary" accommodations and struggle to survive, and because the government of Azerbaijan has not been able to provide statistics on how many have been naturalized, they are considered as persons in refugee-like circumstances.