The office of President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has sent a letter to the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, APA reports.
According to the information, on June 10, Ursula von der Leyen’s office sent a response letter to Ramil Iskandarli, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, the umbrella organization of Azerbaijani NGOs.
“We have carefully reviewed your appeal and forwarded it to the EEAS (European External Action Service). They will examine the issues you raised and provide you with feedback in the near future,” the letter says.
It should be noted that earlier, the Council of the European Union also sent a response letter to the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, stating that the appeal had been forwarded to the office of President of the European Council António Costa.
Recall that on May 1, 2026, Azerbaijani NGOs addressed an Open Letter to European leaders visiting Armenia — President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council António Costa, and heads of state and government participating in the 8th European Political Community Summit and the European Union-Armenia Summit.
The letter stated that the South Caucasus has been undergoing a major transformation since the Washington Summit held last summer. Azerbaijan and Armenia are moving toward sustainable peace.
The authors of the appeal called on the European leaders visiting Armenia to pay attention to the humanitarian issues faced by Azerbaijan, such as missing persons and landmines:
“Currently, approximately 4,000 Azerbaijani citizens have been missing since the First Karabakh War, including 71 children, 287 women, and 319 elderly persons. There is strong evidence that these people were tortured and killed, which constitutes war crimes. For more than 30 years, Armenia has not provided information about the fate of these persons or the locations of mass graves. The pain and suffering of the families of these 4,000 missing persons is a humanitarian tragedy that has not received adequate attention from the international community.”
It was also emphasized that since the liberation of Azerbaijan’s territories in 2020, 32 mass graves have been discovered. Based on the remains found in these mass graves, the identities of 91 persons have been established and they have been buried. These burials have provided long-awaited solace for their families:
“Some Armenian field commanders have stated that they possess information about the locations of mass graves of Azerbaijanis killed during the First Karabakh War. We call on you and all participants to put pressure on Armenia to question these individuals and provide Azerbaijan with information about the locations of the mass graves.”
The letter also highlighted the contamination of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories with landmines:
“Armenia’s refusal to provide complete and accurate mine maps has caused the deaths and injuries of more than 400 people since the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020. This ‘hidden war’ slows reconstruction efforts in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and East Zangezur regions and prevents hundreds of thousands of former internally displaced persons from returning safely and with dignity to their homes.”
The Open Letter, which invited European leaders to compel Armenia to disclose information about missing Azerbaijanis and provide accurate mine maps of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories, particularly emphasized that resolving these issues could be a practical step that Armenia can take in terms of confidence-building.
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