NATO's support for Azerbaijan's humanitarian demining activities discussed in Luxembourg

Humanitarian demining efforts in Azerbaijan and NATO's support for these activities have been discussed, Azernews reports, citing Samir Poladov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), as he told during an official visit to Luxembourg.

As part of the visit, the Azerbaijani delegation held bilateral meetings with Orkhan Muradli, Director of the Operations Support Division of NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency, and other officials.

During the meetings, there was an exchange of views on Azerbaijan's mine problem, NATO's support, the implementation of new technologies and advanced practices, and prospects for future cooperation in the field of humanitarian demining.

Note that despite attempts at formally requesting information about the location of those mines, Armenia repeatedly denied that it possessed the relevant information and refused to engage on the issue.

Finally, in February this year, Armenia submitted 8 minefield maps of territories located in the liberated lands to Azerbaijan. These maps cover some of the areas along the former contact line. However, the maps covering part of the former contact line passing through Khojavand, Tartar, and Goranboy districts, as well as the areas mined by Armenian military units when they retreated in November 2020, have not been submitted yet.

Many have suspicions about these maps because previous minefield maps submitted by Armenia were inaccurate. Only 25 percent of these maps were correct. Especially submitting minefield maps of the height where civilians do not live increases this suspicion. It is also worth noting that more than 55% of recent landmine cases have occurred outside the areas covered by the information provided.

The behaviour that Armenia displayed in relation to the landmine threat is indeed another setback to the peace and confidence-building measures taken during the post-conflict period in the region.

It is worth noting that because of Azerbaijan's liberated territories remain contaminated with mine, the new infrastructure and green energy projects remain a risky and problematic goal. These obstacles to a legal peace are part of the challenges facing the repopulation, development, and integration of the liberated territories on the path to a full peace.

The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action, known as ANAMA, has grown from a fledgling organisation to one fully equipped to clear mines, provide risk education, and assist survivors of accidents. Today, ANAMA's efforts are aimed at continuing the increase and expansion of mine action capacity to provide the clearance of all liberated areas of Azerbaijan.