Population in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur Exceeds 90,000

More than 13% of Azerbaijan's national territory remains contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, according to an address by President Ilham Aliyev delivered by Assistant to the President and Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev at the 4th International Mine Action Conference in Baku.

The address stated that since the end of the 2020 Patriotic War, 437 Azerbaijani citizens have fallen victim to landmines, leaving 76 dead and 361 severely injured. In total, over 3,500 individuals have suffered from mine incidents since the start of Armenian aggression. The crisis has been severely exacerbated by inaccurate and incomplete minefield records provided by Armenia, though Azerbaijani deminers have successfully identified and neutralized more than 260,000 explosive hazards.

President Aliyev highlighted that under the "Great Return" initiative, nearly 40,000 internally displaced persons have returned home, bringing the total resident population in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur past 90,000. Noting that Azerbaijan has designated humanitarian mine action as its 18th national Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), the head of state urged the international community to scale up technology transfers, equipment support, and predictable funding.

N.Tebrizli