Baku: Armenia-provided mine maps show Yerevan's insincerity

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov has described Armenia's behaviour as insincere while providing mine maps to Azerbaijan.

Mammadov made the remarks during the briefing held in Baku on December 8.

“As on many other issues, Armenia has shown an inconsistent and insincere position here. At first, Armenia refused to comment on the issue, then claimed that it had no maps of the minefields. In June-July, in exchange for the maps of the minefields, Armenia demanded that persons of Armenian origin detained in Azerbaijan on various charges be returned. After handing over those maps, Armenia acknowledged that it was only a small part of the maps,” he said.

The deputy minister underlined that many international organizations were informed about it. Mammadov added that already during the consideration of the issue in the court, many authoritative structures called on Armenia to issue maps of minefields.

He said that by submitting to Baku mine maps of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories three days before the International Court of Justice ruling, Armenia eliminated the need for the court to make a decision on this issue.

“All the facts about the deaths of our civilians by mines were presented to the court. Three days before the announcement of the court's decision, Armenia, having transferred mine maps of the rest of Azerbaijan's territories, eliminated the need for the court to express its attitude on this issue,” he said.

Mammadov recalled that at the end of last year's 44-day war, Azerbaijan had demanded mine maps from Armenia to demine the liberated territories.

Speaking about the detainees of Armenian origin in Azerbaijani territory, Mammadov emphasized that Armenia had failed to score political points against Azerbaijan in this issue.

He stated that Armenia’s petition to the court was related to the transfer to Yerevan the people who committed the crime.

“This is no coincidence. In Armenia’s political agenda, the return of these individuals is the main issue. Armenia claimed that these persons were detained precisely because they were Armenians. Azerbaijan presented facts to the court on this issue. Armenia failed to score political points against Azerbaijan on this issue,” he said.

Noting that the court demanded humane treatment of all individuals of Armenian origin detained in Azerbaijan, the deputy minister said that Azerbaijan provided the court with facts about the constant observance of the principles of humanism.

Moreover, Mammadov said that Azerbaijan will file two lawsuits against Armenia in two specific directions next year.

He stressed that one lawsuit will concern the scale of environmental damage. Mammadov added that it is planned to raise the issue of damage to the environment on the liberated territories within the framework of a number of conventions.

“The second lawsuit will be related to natural resources. Facts are being collected about the illegal use and exploitation of natural resources by Armenia on the Azerbaijani territories during the occupation, and we are preparing to file a lawsuit in this regard," he said.