FM: Mines on Azerbaijani territories continue to take lives every day

The massive contamination of Azerbaijan with landmines and other explosives accompanied by the continued refusal of Armenia to share all maps of mined areas is the major impediment and possesses a serious humanitarian threat and continues to take lives almost on a daily basis, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, Report informs.

"Azerbaijan has offered post-conflict normalization agenda to Armenia. Both sides are engaged in negotiating the text of a bilateral agreement that will form the framework of interstate relations based on mutual recognition and respect of each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of state borders. Despite a series of negotiations over the past months, the progress still remains short of our expectations. Azerbaijan values the contribution of the international community to the normalization process and in this context appreciates the efforts taken within the Council of Europe on confidence building between Armenia and Azerbaijan," the minister said.

Along with bilateral interstate normalization with Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov noted that Azerbaijan has now embarked on large-scale post-conflict rehabilitation, reconstruction and reintegration efforts to eliminate the harsh consequences of 30 yearlong military occupation of its territories.

According to him, "these aim at ensuring the rights of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to eventually exercise their violated right to a safe and dignified return to their homes and peaceful coexistence of conflict-affected citizens of Azerbaijan."