(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Fatima Latifova
Read more
Azerbaijan is among the top five countries in the world for land
contamination by mines. While it was previously estimated that
there were around one hundred thousand mines in the formerly
occupied territories, it has become clear since the Second Garabagh
War that this number exceeds one and a half million. The most
extensive surveys were conducted in May in the four villages
returned to Azerbaijan during the delimitation process.
These areas were also extensively mined. Azerbaijani deminers
have conducted searches just 5-10 meters from Armenian posts.
Unfortunately, mine explosions have occurred in these four villages
during the process. The presence of mine problems in these four
villages, returned to Azerbaijan with the Armenian government's
consent, raises questions about the intentions of the Pashinyan
administration.
Speaking to Azernews , political scientist Turab
Rzayev gave an insight into the recent issues. In his comment,
Rzayev said that the main issue here is the date when the mines
were planted.
"We need to first determine when these mines were laid in the
area. If they are mines from the 1990s, then Armenia should have
genuinely shown goodwill. If Yerevan truly wants peace and
cooperation, it should have provided Baku with the maps of the
minefields," he noted.
He said that if the mines were planted more recently, this would
be a more significant problem.
"If mines were planted just before the return of the villages to
Azerbaijan, it demonstrates Armenia's malicious intent, aiming to
cause maximum damage to Azerbaijan rather than seeking peace and
stability. This would prevent Azerbaijan from utilizing the land
and could lead to civilian and military casualties," the expert
added.
The political expert explained that another possibility is that
mines were planted after the return of the villages.
"If mines were laid after the return of the four villages to
Azerbaijan, this indicates that diversion groups may have entered
Azerbaijani territory. In this case, Azerbaijan should raise
serious concerns about Armenian provocations," he said.
Further to expert views, political analyst Asif Narimanli said
that he believes that landmines were planted during negotiations
between Azerbaijan and Armenia about four villages.
"There is a significant possibility that mines were planted in
the four villages of Qazakh during the negotiations process. During
the period when Garabagh was liberated, the Azerbaijani Army had
given Armenian soldiers time to leave the area. During this period,
new mines were planted, particularly in areas like Kelbajar that
were handed over without combat. It is possible that after planting
mines in the four villages of Gazakh, the area was handed over to
Azerbaijan," he added.
The expert noted that this situation reflects Armenia's
duplicity.
"Despite professing peace, Armenia is doing everything it can to
undermine it. This seems to be a characteristic behavior. Just as
they left a legacy of mine terror in Karabakh, they are doing the
same in these areas," he said.
Asif Narimanli said that the goal here is to create maximum
problems for Azerbaijan and delay the settlement of the population
in the area.
"Over the past century, Armenia has pursued a policy of creating
problems for Azerbaijan. The discovery of numerous mines and mine
explosions in the four villages of Qazakh indicates that this
policy and attitude remain unchanged.
In the future, the issue of mines should be a top priority.
During the border delimitation and the return of other areas to
Azerbaijan, Armenia must first hand over the mine maps. If the
Armenian side evades cleaning the mines and providing the maps,
Armenia should compensate Azerbaijan significantly for the mine
problem."
Recall that despite attempts at formally requesting information
about the location of those mines, Armenia repeatedly denied that
it possessed the relevant information and refused to engage on the
issue.
Finally, in February this year, Armenia submitted 8 minefield
maps of territories located in the liberated lands to Azerbaijan.
These maps cover some of the areas along the former contact line.
However, the maps covering part of the former contact line passing
through Khojavand, Tartar, and Goranboy districts, as well as the
areas mined by Armenian military units when they retreated in
November 2020, have not been submitted yet.
Many have suspicions about these maps because previous minefield
maps submitted by Armenia were inaccurate. Only 25 percent of these
maps were correct. Especially submitting minefield maps of the
height where civilians do not live increases this suspicion. It is
also worth noting that more than 55% of recent landmine cases have
occurred outside the areas covered by the information provided.
The behavior that Armenia displayed in relation to the landmine
threat is indeed another setback to the peace and
confidence-building measures taken during the post-conflict period
in the region.
MENAFN20082024000195011045ID1108581590
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.