Armenia Ready to Collaborate with Azerbaijan on Fate of Missing Persons, NSS Says

The inter-agency commission dealing with prisoners, hostages, and missing persons (whose whereabouts are unknown) has issued a statement in response to the claims circulated by various state bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, stating that the Republic of Armenia refuses to provide information on Azerbaijani missing citizens.

"In response to the claims circulated by various state bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan that the Republic of Armenia refuses to provide information on Azerbaijani missing citizens, we find it necessary to emphasize that since November 2020, the Republic of Armenia has transferred the remains of 51 Azerbaijani soldiers killed in the 44-day war and has provided possible locations for the bodies of around 50 individuals who perished in the 1990s, based on geographic materials received from representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, the bones of 140 Azerbaijani soldiers who died in the 1990s have been handed over to the Republic of Azerbaijan, received from Nagorno-Karabakh representatives.

It is important to note that 993 citizens of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians have been classified as missing since the early 1990s, and since the 2020 44-day war and thereafter, the Republic of Armenia is seriously interested in clarifying their fates.

The Republic of Armenia has repeatedly stated, including at high and top-level, that it is ready to collaborate with the Republic of Azerbaijan to clarify the fates of those reported as missing.

In accordance with the agreement recorded in the joint statement of the Prime Minister's Office of the Republic of Armenia and the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 7, 2023, regarding the implementation of trust-building measures, the inter-agency commission of the Republic of Armenia proposes to intensify cooperation with the relevant structure of Azerbaijan.