Internally displaced persons within the scope of forced migration: The case of Azerbaijan

The Republic of Azerbaijan has struggled against the land demands of Armenia for many years and for this reason many people have lost their lives and homes. Both the events took place in the 20th century and the current conflicts have brought the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan into the agenda and turned it into a research topic. However, the fact should be noted that the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh war has generally been discussed based on history by researchers, and the issue has not been addressed through the migration caused by the war. Migration is human mobility that has always existed, and our evaluation of Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh war through migration is so vital in terms of IDPs, who carry all the weight of forced migration during the war. As forced migration has led IDPs to leave their homelands and meet new identities in different regions, in spite of being citizenship of the same country is in question here, adaptation seems as an important issue. In this regard, a field study has been conducted by using qualitative research method within the scope of the thesis study. In the field research the process of reintegration of IDPs into the new place and social environment they have settled in and the identity confusion that might be noticed in this period of time have been investigated in the context of the participants from Gayidish which is known as the settlement of IDPs in the province of Fuzuli, and within this scope, interviews has been taken with totally 30 people including 20 people who have personally experienced forced migration and 10 people who have grown up in the IDP family. In the light of the findings obtained as a result of the interviews, it has been observed that there is a state of marginalization due to the difficulties experienced by IDPs and their "belittling" themselves. However, it has also emerged that there is a sense of foreignness to the town, which consists of only IDPs, and the desire to return has never been lost by IDPs. In addition, the situation of IDPs longing for the past, their memories and feeling obliged to adapt have also been revealed.