Serzh Sargsyan: housing of refugees priority for Armenian authoritiesMay 17, 2011 - 13:53 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - On May 15, an international conference on the issues of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan was launched in Yerevan. The conference was kicked off by Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan who read out Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's message to the participants. As the Armenian leader noted in his message, in 1988-92, as a result of ethnic cleansings launched by Azerbaijan, over half million of Armenians left their homes, with about 360000 refugees arriving in Armenia. “In 2004, Armenian government approved a housing program for vulnerable families. Since 2005, a certain sum for program implementation has been allocated from state budget. However, the financial crisis prevented further investments in 2010 and 2011, with 1175 families still on waiting list.” As the message concluded, the housing of the Armenian refugees has always been on Armenian authorities' priority list. Grigoryan added that the situation around the world and particularly in the region is very difficult. The Armenian Defense Ministry has denied Azerbaijan's accusations of violating the ceasefire. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took to social media to thank his Lithuanian counterpart for the contribution. President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Partner news |