“282 Azerbaijanis have either died or been severely injured in mine explosions since the end of the 44-day Patriotic War. Landmines are critical elements and painful legacy of Armenia’s campaign to prevent the return of displaced Azerbaijanis,” said Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Armenia’s invasion and illegal occupation of territories internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan was accompanied by a conscious and deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing. This practice, which continued until 2020, aimed to create an ethnically pure Armenian settlement on Azerbaijan’s territory through destruction, looting and exploitation of Azerbaijani districts,” the ministry emphasized.
“After liberating its territories in 2020, Azerbaijan has undertaken an enormous evidence collection exercise in the liberated territories. The scale of Armenia’s destruction of hundreds of thousands of lives, countless families and communities, irreplaceable cultural heritage and the environment is truly shocking.
Armenia’s ethnic discrimination policy and practice, as well as illegal occupation for almost thirty years, prevented all Azerbaijani citizens to return to their homes in Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. To this day, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani IDPs still cannot return to their former homes. Entire towns, such as Fuzuli, Aghdam, Jabrayil, Gubadlı, Zangilan, Kalbajar were destroyed as part of Armenia’s occupation and “scorched earth” policy when it retreated from the then-occupied territories following the war in 2020. 95% of all buildings located in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region were razed to the ground since Armenia’s occupation in 1991,” the Foreign Ministry added.