BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. In accordance with the relevant United Nations General Assembly Resolution, the 30th of August is observed as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, and determining the fate of up to 4,000 Azerbaijani citizens who have gone missing as a result of Armenia’s 30-year-long aggression against Azerbaijan is one of the most serious humanitarian problems that concern not only their beloved ones but the Azerbaijani Government, Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Administration of the President of Azerbaijan, Assistant to the President Hikmet Hajiyev wrote on X, TurkicWorld reports
''Armenia evades providing information about their whereabouts and the location of mass graves, once again demonstrating its inhuman nature. Numerous witness statements and mass graves discovered in our territories liberated from occupation proved that the Azerbaijanis captured and taken hostage were brutally tortured and killed in a mass manner by Armenia.
Those who are guilty of these crimes against humanity are not only enjoying impunity in Armenia but are even glorified.
But justice has prevailed! Today, most of those criminals are held accountable in Azerbaijan. Armenian lobby-paid and morally bankrupt Western politicians and media institutions who call for the release of these war criminals at least should be ashamed.
Armenia also should feel ashamed of its barbaric actions, apologize to Azerbaijan, hold other offenders accountable, and report the exact location of mass graves, including the remains of
Azerbaijan’s national hero Natig Gasimov.
Liberation of our lands from occupation gave a great impetus to the process of determining the fate of missing persons. Upon the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons of the Republic of Azerbaijan and relevant government institutions based on the DNT analyses of discovered human remains have identified 151 people so far who have gone missing since the first Karabakh War.
Finding them after 30 years and burying them with military funeral honors once again shows how the President of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani state value and take care of its citizens.
In the context of the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the work of the ICRC on missing Azerbaijani persons as demanded by international humanitarian law cannot be considered satisfactory. Instead, the ICRC, contrary to its statute, is engaged in behind-the-scenes leaks of false information and "background information" to so-called reports of dubious Western politicians who are on the payroll of the Armenian government and Armenian lobby.
Azerbaijan will continue to spare no effort to determine the fate of the missing persons and will put an end to the longing and suffering of their families,'' the publication reads.
