Dozens of Azerbaijanis have been killed in mine blasts in newly-liberated territories.
Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Yerevan provided Baku “a substantial but a small part” of maps of mines planted in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinyan made the remarks after Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian soldiers in exchange for maps of 97,000 maps planted in Aghdam city. The exchange took place on June 12 on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border.
“We have transferred maps of minefields [to Azerbaijan]. But this is a small portion of maps that we have. A substantial, but a small part of minefields,” Pashinyan said at a pre-election rally on June 13.
Armenia had earlier denied existence of such mines.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on June 12 said that Armenia must provide maps of all mines planted in Azerbaijan’s formerly-occupied lands.
“Armenia must provide us maps of all mines – maps of hundreds of thousands of mines – it has planted. If they refuse to do it, this will reflect once more the terrorist nature of this country,” Aliyev said while receiving credentials of new foreign ambassadors in Baku.
Furthermore, Aliyev said that Armenia has not responded to Azerbaijan’s request to start negotiations.
Over 120 Azerbaijanis have been killed and injured in explosions of mines in Azerbaijan’s newly-liberated territories since the end of the war in November 2020.
Azerbaijan had urged Armenia to provide maps of minefields following the death of over 20 of its citizens due explosion of these mines.
Ilham Aliyev earlier said that Armenia’s refusal to share maps of minefields amounts to a war crime.
