The issue of approximately 4,000 Azerbaijani citizens missing since the First Garabagh War remains unresolved, Assistant to the President and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev, told journalists.
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, Hajiyev emphasized that appeals have been made to Armenia through various channels to determine the fate of these individuals. "We have been unable to obtain information about nearly 4,000 of our citizens. This issue remains open, and we have addressed the Armenian side through multiple avenues. Most recently, we requested representatives of Armenian civil society visiting Azerbaijan to provide information based on witness testimonies," he stated.
Hajiyev also criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for its perceived inaction over the past three decades. He noted that despite having a humanitarian mandate and extensive access to the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, including areas formerly under occupation, the ICRC failed to fulfill its duties or complete its work regarding the missing persons.
The First Garabagh War, which occurred in the early 1990s, left a significant humanitarian legacy of missing persons. Since the liberation of its territories in 2020, Azerbaijan has intensified efforts to locate mass graves and identify remains through modern DNA analysis. The discovery of several mass burial sites in liberated areas such as Shusha, Aghdam, and Fuzuli has further highlighted the urgency of obtaining accurate records from the Armenian side to provide closure for thousands of families in Azerbaijan.
