Azerbaijan's Clears One Tenth Of Its Mined Territories - Ambassador-At-Large Of MFA

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 19. Azerbaijan has already cleared one tenth of its mined territories from mines and unexploded ordnance, Ambassador-at-large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elshad Isgandarov said, addressing the event on "Mine-free South Caucasus", held in Geneva as part of the intersessional meeting on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, Trend reports citing MFA.

Elshad Isgandarov noted that during the 30-year Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands, about 10 percent of the territories were purposefully mined by Armenia, and more than 1.5 million mines were installed. Stressing that the continued targeted mining of territories is one of the main threats to achieving lasting peace in the region, large-scale reconstruction and construction work, the civilian population in these areas, as well as the return of internally displaced persons, Isgandarov also spoke about the victims of mines. He said that 57 Azerbaijani citizens died and 247 were seriously injured as a result of 179 mine incidents that occurred in the territories liberated from occupation from November 2020 to the present.

He also pointed out that Armenia, violating the requirements of international humanitarian law, still refuses to provide accurate maps of mines to Azerbaijan. Isgandarov said that despite the existing difficulties, one tenth of the mined territories of Azerbaijan has already been cleared. The Ambassador brought to the attention of the event participants the importance of showing international solidarity in this regard, as well as Azerbaijan's readiness to cooperate with international organizations in this matter.

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