Refugees from Azerbaijan Need “Crash Course” in Armenian to Find Work Tamara Amirdjanova, an Armenian refugee from Azerbaijan, had the following to say regarding the issue of refugee return bandied about in the Karabakh conflict settlement negotiations: "I will never go back to Baku. I can’t even think about returning for I remember how we grabbed our kids in our arms and fled that place. Better I live in poverty in Karabakh, the homeland, than return there."

She cannot even picture the possibility of living with Azerbaijanis in the same town or village. “I’m also against their return. It’s not enough that they took the homes of Armenians in Azerbaijan? Let them live there and we will live here,” says Mrs. Amirdjanova. She constantly reminisces about her home in Baku bit she’s happy in Shushi, where she lives now. She, her husband and four kids were forced to leave Baku in 1989. We wish to stay in Shushi “We left with the clothes on our back. We took nothing else and left for Moscow. We were then sent to Armenia. We resided in Sisian for four years. Working in the local factory and living in a dormitory. But since we didn’t own a home, we decided to pack and leave for Karabakh, our native soil. Luckily, when we got here, the government allocated a house for us,” said Mrs. Amirdjanova, who lives with her husband and daughter in a four room apartment in Shushi. Her other three children have already married and have kids of their own. One of her daughters is married and living in the Russian town of Rostov. The other girl is married and living in Shushi. Her son is married as well and rents an apartment in Shushi. Mrs. Amirdjanova says that she can’t afford to buy a house and doesn’t make enough money to qualify for a home mortgage. The parents don’t have the means to financially assist their son. Her sixty year-old husband is the only one with a job working at the electric utility, making 60,000 AMD monthly. She confesses that they couldn’t get by without the money her daughter sends from Rostov. “How could we make it without the cash she sends now and then?” asks Mrs. Amirdjanova, who can’t find a job but isn’t old enough to start getting her pension allowance. My children went to Russian schools in Baku Their 37 year-old unmarried daughter who lives with them also doesn’t work. The daughter graduated from an accounting vocational school but is now attending college courses to get that much-needed diploma. Most employers now demand it. The other daughter living in Shushi also is without a job and takes computer courses to improve her work prospects. Mrs. Amirdjanova points to the language barrier as one of the reasons for their being unemployed. She says the girls went to a Russian school in Baku and that in Karabakh one must be fluent in Armenian. Mrs. Amirdjanova tries not to dwell on this issue too much. Rather, she’s quick to point out that the family has grown to love Shushi and that they have no plans to move. It would be convenient though, she says, if the language issue was somewhat resolved. “We older folk get by somehow, but it’s really tough on the young people,” she says. What about the kids of those who left Artsakh during the war years? Many refugees from Azerbaijan now living in Artsakh raise the language barrier issue. While they don’t want to move, not being fluent in Armenian is a real hindrance when looking for work. Sanasar Saryan, who heads the NKR Refugee Social Organization, has constantly raised the issue. He suggests that Russian also be used for secretarial and clerical and functions. Mr. Saryan says such a move just might induce more Armenians to return to Karabakh. He believes that many have the desire to return but, given the language barrier, they just can’t picture themselves finding work. In this category of potential returnees, Mr. Saryan includes not only Armenians who fled Azerbaijan but Karabakh natives who moved to Russia during the war years. Their children have also attended Russian schools, just like Mrs. Amirdjanova’s children.