Armenia's Proposal Becomes a Pretext for New Escalation by Azerbaijan: MFA Statement

Azerbaijan is manipulating Armenia's initiative to share new minefield maps and turning it into a pretext for escalation, stated the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Armenia has handed over all the maps of minefields in its possession to Azerbaijan, which it received from officials in Nagorno-Karabakh, including as a measure to build confidence. Acting on humanitarian grounds, Armenia created new maps through clarifications from former officials in Nagorno-Karabakh to transmit them to Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, this initiative was met by the Azerbaijani side with a very negative and sarcastic response, which nullifies Armenia's efforts aimed at building trust. Baku continues to exploit the topic and uses Yerevan's positive step as a pretext for escalation and negative rhetoric,” the statement reads on the Ministry’s official Twitter account.

The National Security Service announced yesterday that, as a result of resumed inquiries among former military personnel of Nagorno-Karabakh, eight new files regarding mined areas have emerged and will be transmitted to the Azerbaijani side through working channels in the coming days.

In response, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated today that it has taken note of the Armenian proposal and expects that “Armenia will present accurate maps of all mined areas that have not yet been fully communicated to Azerbaijan.” Baku claims that the accuracy of the maps provided by Armenia so far is only 25%, asserting that they are “ineffective, incomplete, and do not accurately represent the real situation on the ground,” accusing Armenia of “serious violations of international humanitarian law and the commitments undertaken.”