MoD official: Turkey-supplied demining equipment soon to be used in liberated lands

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

An Azerbaijani Defence Ministry official has said that demining equipment supplied by Turkey will soon be used on territories liberated from Armenia's occupation in a 44-day war in 2020, Trend reported on February 10.

In this regard, a preparatory training programme was organized in the engineering troops, and the engineering and fortification divisions, the head of the Defence Ministry's Engineering and Fortification Service, Major-General Anar Karimov

“Together with representatives of the demining equipment's manufacturer, issues of operation and maintenance of this equipment were considered as part of the training programme. On February 10, in real conditions, the process of demining with its help will be demonstrated at the test site, and in a short time this equipment will be involved in the work to clear the liberated territories from mines and unexploded ordnance,” he said. 

The total weight of the demining equipment delivered from Turkey to Azerbaijan makes up 13 tonnes and it has been designed for continuous eight-hour work, Trend reported, quoting engineering troops captain Shakir Zeynalov. He added that the vehicle's crew consists of three people.

In early February, Azerbaijan received from Turkey 20 MEMATT mechanical demining machines for mine-clearance operations on liberated territories.

Some 136 Turkish mine-clearance experts arrived in mid-December 2020 and begun training their Azerbaijani counterparts. The first group of Turkish sappers arrived in early December. The Turkish soldiers themselves are also involved in clearing Azerbaijan’s newly-liberated territories.

On February 4, President Ilham Aliyev described the mine clearance operations as one of the priority tasks. He stressed that the most state-of-the-art equipment of the world's leading manufacturers must be brought to Azerbaijan to ensure the demining in such a way that the country manages to start the restoration work in a short time and citizens can return to their lands after the completion of construction work. 

Aliyev said that after the 44-day war with Armenia, additional sapper battalions were set up by the Defence Ministry on his orders and so far, 80 to 90 per cent of demining operations have been carried out by the ministry sappers.

On February 9, four servicemen of the Azerbaijani army, including an officer have been wounded in a mine explosion near Tartar region. On February 9, the press service of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General's Office reported that since November 10, 2020, 5 servicemen and 9 civilians have been killed, and 52 servicemen and 8 civilians have been wounded in mine explosions on liberated territories.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10 brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.