On January 25, the National Security Service of Armenia stated the intention to present mine maps to Azerbaijan. According to the statement, 8 more mine maps will be presented to Azerbaijan after the final clarifications with the military.
This statement seems strange and disingenuous in several respects.
First of all, the statement exposes another lie of Yerevan, which said that it had previously submitted all the maps it had to Azerbaijan.
Thus, since the end of the Second Karabakh War, Armenia has submitted forms of minefields buried in the territories of Azerbaijan 5 times. The last time this process took place on November 29, 2021. Since that time, for more than 2 years, the Armenian leadership announced that it has presented all the mine maps at the highest level.
The statement about the 8 mine maps reveals that during this period, Armenia deceived not only Azerbaijan but also the international community and that there are additional maps that it hid.
If we recall that after the signing of the tripartite statement in 2020, he generally denied having mine maps, it can be said with certainty that Armenia's statements on this topic are nothing but lies and misinformation.
Another important issue is related to the inaccuracy of the mine maps presented by Armenia so far. The Azerbaijani side has announced that the accuracy of those maps is only 25%.
The Azerbaijani side also constantly declares that the maps are useless and incomplete and do not reflect the real situation. For example, although Armenia claims to have planted 400,000 landmines in our territories, the reality is that the number of landmines exceeds 1 million.
It is no coincidence that more than 55% of landmine explosions in recent years occurred in locations outside the areas where maps were provided by Armenia
Yerevan, through providing inaccurate maps, is trying to score points in front of the international community, to hide the extent of the areas that were planted with mine for 30 years on one hand, and on the other hand, it is trying to cause difficulties to the large-scale reconstruction works carried out by Azerbaijan, for the civilian population working in those areas, as well as for the resettlement of internally displaced persons and their peaceful life in their lands.
Armenia is pursuing the goal of making Azerbaijan spend as much energy, time, and money on the demining process as possible by not presenting the exact contours of the mine-planted areas.
Discovering mines in the territories of Azerbaijan that were manufactured in 2021 demonstrates that the mining process continued even after the deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Garabagh.
It is likely that, more than 1 million Armenian manufactured mines were planted in the territories of Azerbaijan and along the perimeters of these areas after November of 2020.
This aggravates the mine problem and complicates and prolongs the demining process of areas.
Armenia exposes Azerbaijan to mine blackmail and takes advantage of this issue as a means to gain additional dividends from "political bargains" and peace negotiations.
The humane, humanitarian aspect of this issue is not of interest to the official Yerevan. If it was interested, it would not turn a blind eye to the fact of 342 Azerbaijani citizens suffering from mine explosions since 2020, after the end of the Patriotic war, till today and it would hand over mine maps fully to Azerbaijan.
Therefore, the statement of the Armenian side on handing over 8 mine maps to Azerbaijan should be considered as camouflage and as a cunning trick designed to create a humane image in front of the international community. And Official Baku understands it very well and the commentary made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan yesterday to the issue demonstrates this.
"This statement by the Armenian side shows that Armenia does not intend to contribute to the humanitarian process, and this step cannot be considered as a confidence-building measure. The Azerbaijani side is waiting for Armenia to bring accurate maps of all mined areas, which have not been fully presented to Azerbaijan to date," the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated.
In this sense, it is unfortunate and unexpected that the international community and international organizations remained silent about the mine crisis in Garabagh and failed to take a firm and visible stance in response to the events taking place in the region.
They do not use effective means of influence for Armenia to fully hand over the mine maps to Azerbaijan. However, because of the humanitarian crisis created on the territory of another country, Armenia must answer in compliance with international principles.
Official Baku made repeated appeals to the international community, international organizations, and individual countries to use their influence and leverage to put pressure on Armenia to provide up mine maps to Azerbaijan. But, they did not take any measure in this regard, on the contrary, Armenia is being dishonestly supported even today. As during the 30-year occupation, Azerbaijan is still facing an unfair attitude.
Without a doubt, Armenia presents a damaging and non-constructive image of every aspect of the peace agenda. The problem of providing mine maps is another example of this detrimental attitude.
Thus, to sign a peace treaty, Armenia should submit all the mine maps it has, which it has hidden, to Azerbaijan, and halt years-long mine terror.
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