Armenian Aggression
Deputy FM: Mass graves found in liberated lands
By Vafa Ismayilova
Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov has said that mass graves have been found on Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenia's occupation in 2020, local news sources reported on August 30.
The deputy minister stressed that the work is underway to identify the dead persons in those graves.
Mammadov said that during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s Armenia had been widely using the practice of taking hostages.
"The results of the investigations indicate that Azerbaijani prisoners are being tortured and are being held in heavy conditions," added the official.
He noted that the prisoners held in Armenia die due to tough detention conditions.
"As a result of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, 3,890 people, including 3,171 servicemen and 719 civilians were missing. Armenia took hostage and hasn’t returned 267 civilians, including 28 children, 98 women, and 112 old people," added the official.
Mammadov said that Azerbaijan always complies with UN resolutions on prisoners, hostages, and missing persons.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva said that Azerbaijan from the first day of restoration of its independence faced Armenia's aggression.
She noted that as a result of the Armenian aggression, the practice of taking Azerbaijani servicemen prisoners and hostages was widely used by Armenia.
Azerbaijan faced Armenian aggression from the first day of its independence restoration, Leyla Abdullayeva, spokesperson for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
According to Abdullayeva, as a result of the aggression, the practice of taking prisoners and hostages of Azerbaijani servicemen was widely used by Armenia.
Earlier, senior MP Ziyafat Asagarov said that Yerevan avoids cooperating with Baku over finding Azerbaijani citizens, who went missing in the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s.
Asgarov made the remarks in an interview with the local media on the eve of the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30.
“It is clear that Armenia, which treated captives and hostages in violation of international law and killed them brutally in most cases, does not want to cooperate in this direction to ensure that its criminal deeds are not revealed. However, it forgets that the Azerbaijani people and state never forget their sons and citizens. It takes and will take necessary steps to protect their rights and bring perpetrators to justice," he said.
The MP stressed that although the conflict ended, 3,890 Azerbaijanis captured and taken hostage by Armenia have been registered as missing persons.
"On the eve of August 30 – the International Day of the Disappeared, we are face to face with this bitter truth,” Asgarov said.
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