Azerbaijani NGOs appeal to international organizations over Armenia's refusal to provide maps of mined territories

Azerbaijani civil society organizations have appealed to international organizations regarding Armenia's refusal to provide Azerbaijan with maps of mined areas.

According to Report, the address reads:

"The UN and international organizations should not be indifferent to the illegal actions of Armenian military units, which have polluted the liberated Azerbaijani territories with mines and dangerous ammunition, destroyed settlements, villages, and cities. The Azerbaijani territories, which the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied for thirty years, have been plundered and destroyed. These areas are experiencing a period of ecological catastrophe in the truest sense of the word.

Azerbaijani territories liberated for 44 days due to the war launched in response to provocations by Armenian military units along the state border with Azerbaijan, and Karabakh has faced a severe mine problem. In the last four months, about 40 civilians have been killed or seriously injured by landmines while visiting the occupied territories, their ancestral lands, former residences, and cemeteries. The Armenian side refuses to provide the Azerbaijani side with maps of the mined areas without showing an adequate attitude to establishing a climate of trust, in gross violation of civil and humanitarian law principles. It is in stark contrast to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols.

Mine mines pose a serious threat to civilian life by being buried by Armenian military units, not for military purposes, but in civilian infrastructure, light lines, canal areas, road junctions, courtyard entrances, cemeteries, riverbanks, rural and urban paths. According to ANAMA, which operates in the liberated areas, more than ten mines are sometimes found in 1 square meter. At such a sensitive time, some international organizations are trying to justify the actions of Armenian military units, which deliberately disrupt the settlement of the conflict, committing provocations resulting in the killing of people in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan after the November 10, 2020 statement, rather than the threat of a secret, deadly mine.

They are indifferent to the plight of 3,171 Azerbaijani military officials and 719 civilians who went missing during the First Karabakh War and turned a blind eye to the intolerable condition of settlements facilities and social infrastructure destroyed by the enemy. They do not accuse the occupying party for using banned cluster bombs and chemical ammunition against civilians living in Ganja, Barda, Tartar, and Azerbaijan's regions. We urge the international organizations not to remain silent on Armenia's unreasonable and provocative measures, such as re-igniting the conflict and inciting enmity between the international community. We ask them to promote activities to maintain peace, tranquility, and sustainable development in the region, creating an atmosphere of trust by providing Azerbaijan with maps of mined areas and places where explosive traps have been set up.

The appeal was addressed by President of the International Eurasian Press Fund Umud Mirzayev, Chairman of Mine Victims Association Rey Karimoglu, Head of the Azerbaijani Company Against Mines Public Union Hafiz Safikhanov, Chairman of the NGO "Dayag" Shahin Ibrahimov, Chairman of the Public Union for Socio-Economic Issues of Mine Victims Mammadhasan Hasanov.