The invalidity and incompleteness of the mine maps presented by Armenia has been repeatedly reported.
Publika.az xreports that this was included in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
It is noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan recorded the statement of the National Security Service of Armenia dated January 25, 2024, about the intention of providing mine maps to Azerbaijan.
“Indiscriminate, mass and purposeful mining of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia is one of the main threats to the large-scale reconstruction and reconstruction works carried out in the post-conflict period, to the civilian population operating in these areas, as well as to the return of internally displaced persons and their peaceful living in their places. Armenia’s In addition to being a war crime, his activity is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the obligations undertaken by Armenia.
The Azerbaijani side has repeatedly demanded the presentation of mine maps by Armenia both before the 2020 Patriotic War and in the post-conflict period.
After the signing of the Tripartite statement dated November 10, 2020, it is known that the reliability of the small part of the mine maps that Armenia, which initially denied the existence of mine maps at all, later presented as a result of international pressure, is only 25%. We have repeatedly stated that these presented maps are useless and incomplete and do not reflect the real situation. Although these maps show that 400,000 landmines have been buried in our territories, in reality there is a fact that the number of landmines is more than 1 million,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
“At the same time, let’s note that in recent years, more than 55% of mine explosions took place in areas outside the maps handed over by Armenia. We remind you that since the end of the 2020 Patriotic War, 342 of our citizens have been harmed by mine explosions, 3 of them 65 people were killed, including journalists, 50 of whom were civilians.
Even after 2020, there is a fact that new Armenian-made mines have been placed in the territories of Azerbaijan where the Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily deployed by Armenia and along the perimeters of these territories. At the same time, it has shown that the statements about the alleged non-production and export of mines by Armenia during the last decades have no basis.
This statement of the Armenian side shows that the intention of the mentioned country is not to contribute to the humanitarian process, and this step cannot be considered as a confidence-building measure. The Azerbaijani side expects Armenia to present accurate maps of all mined areas, which have not been fully submitted to Azerbaijan.
“At the same time, urgent measures should be taken by Armenia to provide information on the fate of nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis who have disappeared over the past 30 years, as well as on the places of mass graves where Azerbaijanis are buried,” the MFA added.
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