Azerbaijani citizens stranded in Derbent will be housed in a ‘tent city’
About 700 Azerbaijani citizens cannot return home and are waiting in the Russian city of Derbent in Dagestan for the Russian-Azerbaijani border to open.
To temporarily accommodate these people, the local Ministry of Emergency Situations decided to deploy a tent camp, the Caucasian Knot reports.
When the coronavirus COVID-19 reached Russia, Azerbaijani citizens from different parts of this country flocked to the border in Dagestan to return to their homeland.
But the border was closed. More precisely, it was open for five days between April 18-22 and some people were able to pass, but it was then closed again.
“People are still coming in the hopes that they will be able to return home, but they are already convinced that they will not open the border soon. Those who can return to their former places of residence are leaving. Those who don’t have the opportunity to leave remain in the district,” says Fuad Shikhiev, interim head of the Derbent region.
The authorities of Dagestan are trying to provide some sort of accommodation for these people. Some of them have been placed in the buildings of hotels and resorts, and another 210 people will be accommodated in a tent camp, which will be erected within a couple of days.
This will hopefully prevent the infection from spreading to Azerbaijani citizens in the area, as there is a high rate of infection in Dagestan.
All land borders of Azerbaijan are closed until May 31. It is not known whether a corridor will open before this deadline to let those who are stuck in Dagestan into the country or not. They themselves say that local authorities and residents help them a lot, they have everything they need, but they are worried that they do not know when they can return home.
