Saturday, January 27 2024 12:32

ArmInfo.In its decision to transfer minefield maps to Azerbaijan, Armenia is guided by humanitarian purposes. This is stated in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia in response to the  reaction of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry regarding the expected transfer of the minefield map.

The Department of Foreign Policy of Armenia drew attention to the  following on its X page: "As mentioned on many occasions, Armenia,  including as a confidence building measure, handed over to Azerbaijan  all minefield maps which were at its disposal, having received them  from Nagorno-Karabakh officials.

Later, guided by humanitarian purposes, Armenia prepared new maps  trough inquiries among former officials of Nagorno-Karabakh, in order  to transfer the maps to Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, this initiative  was immediately met with a very negative and ironic response from the  Azerbaijani side, negating Armenia's trust-building efforts  continuing to manipulate the topic and turning Armenia's positive  move into  an occasion for escalating and negative rhetoric," the  republic's foreign office said in a statement.

At a press conference held in Yerevan on January 23, RA Foreign  Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced that Armenia can transfer new maps  of Karabakh minefields to Azerbaijan if there is an environment of  trust and the involvement of the international community is ensured.  "Armenia has already handed over mining maps to Azerbaijan twice. But  it's strange: there were statements from Azerbaijan that they were  not accurate when mining was carried out mainly in the nineties,  including by Azerbaijan itself. Now the Armenian side is trying to  draw new maps through polls and if there is environment of trust, the  Armenian side can discuss transferring them to Azerbaijan, but this  time with the participation of the international community," Mirzoyan  said.  The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia also  made a statement on this matter, saying that it was ready to transfer  new data on minefields to the Azerbaijani side in the near future.   Earlier, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement noting  that they expect Armenia to provide accurate maps of all mined  territories. According to the Azerbaijani side, Armenia allegedly  does not intend to contribute to the humanitarian process and does  not consider this step as a means of building confidence. Baku  reported that they are waiting for accurate maps of mined areas both  before 2020 and in the post-war period. "The Azerbaijani side is  waiting for accurate maps of the mined territories, which have not  been fully transferred to date, and the presented maps are useless  and incomplete, they do not reflect the real situation. Azerbaijan  also expects from the Armenian side that urgent measures will be  taken to transmit information about the fate of missing Azerbaijanis  missing for the last 30 years, as well as the location of their mass  graves," said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the  neighboring state.