London, UK, 9.11.01

Vatan, Azerbaijani Society of the UK had held a lecture dedicated to refugee situation in Azerbaijan on 8.11.01, at the London School of Economics.
The speaker, Neil MacFarlane, Professor of International Relations and Director of Centre for International Studies at Oxford University, is a well known academic, who travelled extensively in refugee - camps and wrote on Azerbaijan and Karabagh dispute, with a particular emphasis on the humanitarian aspect of the conflict.
During the one hour presentation Professor MacFarlane covered in depth the situation facing some 600,000 IDPs from Azeri territories occupied by the Armenian forces as well as nearly 300,000 refugees from Armenia, Chechnya and other parts of the former Soviet Union e.g. some 50,000 Meskheti Turks fled ethnic strife in Uzbekistan in 1989 and settled in Azerbaijan Republic. Socio-economic, political and psychological problems facing the refugee population, such as poverty and chronic unemployment, communicable diseases, aid-dependency and lack of political representation, were addressed in the talk. Particular attention was paid to emerging factor of donor-fatigue, with international aid agencies withdrawing support because of longevity of the displacement and new crises elsewhere in the world.
Professor MacFarlane covered the issue of the return

of refugees to their homelands, giving special consideration to Armenia's refusal to allow Azeris to return to Shusha, Lachin and other parts of the Mountainous Karabagh - integral territory of Azerbaijan, occupied by the Armenian Republic. He added that prospects for a peaceful settlement of the Karabagh conflict remain elusive and improbable in the foreseeable future. Professor argued that unless refugees and IDPs return to their homes en masse or are settled elsewhere in Azerbaijan (something Azeri government is unlikely to do), their situation would worsen rapidly. Radicalisation and politicisation of the refugee population may be one of the outcomes.
The lecture was followed by a presentation of Azerbaijan-related materials (books and magazines) at the Waterstones Economist Bookshop (one of the largest specialist book stores in London) in Clare Market, LSE. Several publications on display were exclusively on the topic of Karabagh. The whole selection will go on general sale from 12.11.01. The event marks another stage in Information Proliferation Programme, launched by Vatan a year ago to provide nationwide distribution of Azeri-related materials and publications in the UK. Last month Vatan secured an official supplier status with Waterstones, which paves the way for a wider distribution programme in 2002.