Armenians lived in most comfortable apartments in Baku's elite districts, Gagik Eganyan

Azerbaijan has not yet compensated the Azerbaijani-Armenians who fled to Armenia following the pogroms in Azerbaijan, the head of State Migration Service of the Republic of Armenia, Gagik Eganyan, has said.

Speaking at a press conference today, Eganyan said that it is not secret that the Armenians were living in the elite districts in Baku.

"92,000 families (about 220,000 people) came from Azerbaijan whose property was seized. It is not secret that the Armenians were living in the most comfortable apartments in the elite districts in Baku," said he, adding that Armenians made the elite of the Azerbaijani society.

Eganyan said that the number one problem those refugees are facing now in Armenia is housing.

With the help of international donor organizations 4485 apartments and cottages have been built for them in Armenia since 1994, while 712 families have privatized their rooms of the hostels they were provided with upon their arrival in Armenia.

The government, in turn, Eganyan went on, implements a housing program that has provided 1065 families with flats with 1169 still waiting for their turn.

To provide all the Armenian-Azerbaijan refugees with housing, according to him, the government will need about $45 million. In an attempt to draw attention on the issue and obtain these funds Armenian will organize a conference this year and will invite international donor organizations.

"For twenty years now those people are living in temporary shelters bereft of basic conditions," said Eganyan, adding that for three years now the Azerbaijani-Armenians have filed 1100 complaints at the European Court of Human Rights against Azerbaijan.

Further, Eganyan said that though the refugees have equal rights to be involved in various social and employment projects, it is among the refugees that the unemployment rate is the highest – something Eganyan said, could be explained by a low level of awareness.