Azerbaijanis today bid farewell to two journalists killed during a mine blast while on duty in liberated Kalbajar region.
Azertag news agency (AZERTAC) correspondent Maharram Ibrahimov and AzTV channel cameraman Siraj Abishov died on June 3 when a bus carrying them blasted on a mine planted by Armenian forces in the region. Four others, including AZTV employee were injured during the incident. Crowds of people, including some government officials attended farewell ceremonies held for Siraj Abishov and Maharram Ibrahimov in Sumgayit and Baku cities respectively.
Addressing the funeral ceremony held for Ibrahimov in Baku, Presidential Aide Hikmat Hajiyev said that the two journalists were documenting Armenian-inflicted destruction in Kalbajar when they were killed. Hajiyev said the journalists’ killing was a great loss to the Azerbaijani media, stressing that international organizations must condemn Armenia’s vandalism.
Senior officials, the Ombudsman Office and a number of local organizations and media bodies issued statements following the incident, calling on the international community to urge Armenia share maps of lands mines in Azerbaijan’s formerly-occupied territories. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry called on the international community on June 4 not to turn a blind eye to Armenia’s violation of its international obligations, including the policy of deliberately planting landmines. Armenia has refused to share maps of landmines it planted in Azerbaijani territories it occupied for around 30 years following the war in the 1990s.
During the war in 2020, Azerbaijan liberated most of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions Armenia had kept as a buffer zone. Armenian landmines have killed 20 civilians and injured 29 others since the signing of the peace deal in November 2020.
