Deputy Minister: Armenia impedes safe return of Azerbaijani IDPs

Azerbaijanis continue to suffer serious injury and die because the Armenians are refusing to share the accurate information about landmines, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elnur Mammadov said during the hearings at the International Court of Justice, according to Report.

The deputy minister noted that the former internally displaced persons of Azerbaijan cannot use their right to return to their homes and safely return there due to the mine threat.

"45 of the Azerbaijani civilian causalities accrued after the Court 2021 provisional measures order. And the casualty count only continues to rise," Mammadov said.

According to him, as recently as past December, seven Azerbaijanis were injured and one killed as a result of landmine blast in Chirag village in the formerly occupied Kalbajar district.

"This village sits 25 km away from the Azerbaijan-Armenia border and no defensive lines pass through the village during either the 1st or 2nd Karabakh wars. Four of the Azerbaijanis injured by the blasts were civilian employees working at the telecommunications company. They were engaged in the vital reconstruction work," the deputy minister said.

According to him, most recently, in December last year, 7 Azerbaijanis were injured and one died as a result of a mine explosion in the village of Chirag in the previously occupied Kalbajar region. "This village is located 25 km from the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, and neither during the first nor during the second Karabakh wars did any defensive lines pass through the village. Four of the victims of the explosion were civilian employees of a telecommunications company. They were busy with important reconstruction work," the deputy minister said.