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Information about the burial places of Azerbaijani citizens killed by the Armenian military is being systematized

13 March 2023 15:41 (UTC +04:00)

The State Commission pays special attention to the collection of information on missing persons, including their graves, Ismayil Akhundov, secretary of the State Commission on Prisoners and Missing and Hostage Citizens, Head of the Working Group, said in an interview with APA.

"One of the main duties of the State Commission on Prisoners and Missing and Hostage Citizens, founded in 1993, in order to eliminate the consequences of the humanitarian crisis that emerged as a result of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan is to conduct the search for Azerbaijani citizens went missing in the armed conflict. Worthwhile to mention that until the Patriotic War started, i.e. in the First Karabakh war, 1480 Azerbaijani citizens were released from captivity-hostage.

378 of them were servicemen, and 1102 were civilians. There were 224 children, 357 women, and 225 elderly among the civilians. Currently, 3890 people were registered as missing people in the First Karabakh War by State Commission on Prisoners and Missing and Hostage Citizens. 3171 people of them are servicemen, and 719 are civilians. Among civilians, there are 71 minors, 267 women, and 326 elderlies.

Out of the total number of missing people, 872 people, including 29 children, 98 women, and 112 old people, were taken hostage or remained in the occupied territories. Armenia still does not provide information about their subsequent fate by concealing from international organizations the fact of detaining these people.

As Armenia demonstrated a non-constructive position in this field for 30 years of the occupation of our lands, a complicated situation emerged in the field of clarifying the subsequent fate of the missing people. Of course, the great victory achieved in the Patriotic war created the condition for opening new opportunities in this field, and the state commission took the first successful steps. However, currently, there are two factors hindering the effective implementation of the duties set before the State Commission. The first one is that Armenia does not provide information about the grave sites of those who went missing in the First Karabakh war. The second obstacle is the contamination of the areas with landmines and unexploded ordnance. Of course, during these years, the Working Group of the State Commission collected and systemized some data about the grave sites of the missing people. However, as I mentioned, the contamination of the territories with landmines is the main factor hindering the effectiveness of the activity of the Commission," he said.