Azerbaijan on Thursday accused Armenia of providing inaccurate minefield maps as Yerevan’s National Security Service is to present another series of maps to Baku.
The statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that Azerbaijan, both before and after the Second Karabakh War in the fall of 2020, repeatedly demanded Armenia to submit minefield maps, but that the accuracy of those given to Baku is only 25%.
It said Azerbaijan has frequently pointed out that the provided maps are "ineffective, incomplete and do not accurately portray the reality on the ground."
"At the same time, it is worth noting that more than 55% of landmine explosions in recent years occurred in locations outside the areas where maps were provided by Armenia," the statement said, adding 342 Azerbaijanis have become mine victims since the fall of 2020.
It said that Azerbaijan expects Armenia to "submit accurate maps of all land-mined sites that have not yet been fully presented to Azerbaijan."
"Moreover, urgent measures have to be taken by Armenia to provide information on the fate of 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis and places of mass graves where Azerbaijanis have been buried over the last 30 years," it added.
Earlier in the day, Armenia's National Security Service said it would transfer new minefield maps to the Azerbaijani side "in the coming days."
Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military illegally occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Azerbaijan liberated most of the region during the war in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement, opening the door to normalization.
The Azerbaijani army initiated an anti-terrorism operation in Karabakh last September to establish constitutional order, after which illegal separatist forces in the region surrendered.
Earlier this month, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday said conditions for a peace treaty with archrival Armenia had been "created," adding that he did not want another war.
Peace talks – mediated separately by the European Union, the United States and Russia – have sputtered, despite both countries saying an agreement could be signed by the end of last year.
In December, the two countries swapped prisoners of war, which was seen as a first step toward normalizing relations. But numerous issues remain unresolved and clashes break out regularly along the border.
