YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Fifty-two families have moved to Nagorno Karabakh since October 2000. Another 30 are expected to settle there by the end of the year. The resettlement is implemented by a program–called "Return to Karabakh."
A senior official of the Armenian social security ministry said that resettlement is conducted on funds–provided by the government of Karabakh. Karabakh authorities can adopt some 250 families a year.
Resettlement of each family costs from $5,000 to $8,000.
The government of Karabakh has created a number of incentives for new settlers as well. The head of the family gets financial aid amounting to 20,000 drams–each family member gets 5,000 drams–and 200,000 dram loan is allocated to the family at 0.5 percent annual interest rate with a 20 year repayment period.
Also a house and 6,000 square meters of land are given to new settlers–and they are exempted from any kind of tax for the next five years.
The official said that the belligerent statemen’s coming from Azerbaijan are not a serious obstacle for the program’s implementation. The program started in 1994.