President Aliyev: Tragedy of missing persons one of grave consequences of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan

The tragedy of missing persons is one of the grave consequences of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said in his letter to the participants of the international conference titled “Addressing the Issue of Missing Persons: Upholding Families’ Right to Know the Truth.”

The head of state pointed out that as a result of the First Karabakh War, up to 4,000 Azerbaijanis had been considered missing for more than 30 years. Among them are civilians, including children and women. Six Azerbaijani citizens went missing in the 2020 Patriotic War, News.Az reports.

"The new facts identified after the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from the occupation have again confirmed again the witness testimonies regarding the atrocities committed against the missing Azerbaijanis. As a result of the exhumation work in the mass graves discovered in those territories, irrefutable evidence has been collected that the persons Armenia took prisoner and hostage were subjected to torture, violence and inhumane treatment, and killed," the Azerbaijani leader noted.

He stressed that there is sufficient photo and video evidence in open sources and on the Internet of the inhumane acts committed by Armenia against Azerbaijanis during the First Karabakh War.

"Although some of those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity are facing justice in Azerbaijan today, not a single person has been held to account for this in Armenia. On the contrary, they have been treated as heroes," the head of state said.

"At the same time, military criminals and commanders in Armenia stated at different times that they had information about mass graves. Nevertheless, Armenia still refuses to provide information about the location of these graves, including the remains of the National Hero of Azerbaijan, Natig Gasimov."

"Armenia should abandon its destructive position and fulfil its obligations arising from international humanitarian law. If Armenia is genuinely interested in achieving peace with Azerbaijan, then it must strongly condemn the atrocities committed against the captured Azerbaijanis hostages and prisoners and punish the perpetrators. This could also be an effective confidence-building measure between the two countries," President Aliyev added.

News.Az