Azerbaijan expects Armenia to provide accurate maps of mined areas

Baku expects Yerevan to provide accurate maps of all mined territories, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

It should be noted that the response of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has been published after the statement of the National Security Service of Armenia dated January 25, 2024 about its intention to provide mine maps to Azerbaijan.

"Indiscriminate, massive and purposeful mining of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia is one of the m major threats to large-scale post-conflict restoration and reconstruction work, the civilian population living in these territories, and the return of IDPs and their peaceful lives in their homes. In addition to the fact that these activities of Armenia is a war crime, it is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the obligations undertaken by Armenia",

 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said.

The statement further emphasized that Baku had previously repeatedly appealed to Yerevan with a demand to submit maps of minefields. In particular, this happened before the Patriotic War of 2020, and the process also took place in the post-conflict period.

"After the signing of the Trilateral Declaration on November 10, 2020, it became known that the accuracy of a small part of the mine maps, the existence of which Armenia initially denied and then submitted as a result of international pressure, was only 25%. We have repeatedly stated that the provided maps are useless, incomplete and do not reflect the real situation. Although these maps show that there are 400,000 mines deployed in our territories, in reality the number of mines exceeds 1 million",

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said.

The statement further notes that in recent years, more than 55% of mine explosions occurred outside the maps provided by Armenia.

"We remind you that since the end of the Patriotic War in 2020, 342 of our citizens have suffered from mine explosions,  65 of them, including 3 journalists, died. Of the 65 people killed, 50 were civilians. There is a fact of installation of new mines of Armenian production in the territories of Azerbaijan, where Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily deployed, and along the perimeter of these territories even after 2020.

It is known that more than 500 thousand mines are installed here. At the same time, it showed that statements that Armenia has not produced or exported mines over the past decades have no basis",

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said.

As noted, this statement shows that the intention of the country in question is not to facilitate the humanitarian process, and this step cannot be considered as a confidence-building measure.

"The Azerbaijani side expects Armenia to provide accurate maps of all mined areas that have not been fully submitted to Azerbaijan. In addition, urgent measures must be taken by Armenia to provide information about the fate of almost 4 thousand Azerbaijanis who have disappeared over the past 30 years, as well as about the places of mass graves where Azerbaijanis are buried",

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said.

Earlier, the National Security Service of Armenia reported the identification of eight new forms with information about minefields in Karabakh. The statement from the Armenian side noted that in the coming days they would be transferred to the Azerbaijani side, to international partners and through working channels.