Italian parliament urges Armenia to supply maps of minefields in, around Karabakh

3 March 2021 11:51 (UTC+04:00)

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By Vafa Ismayilova

Italian parliament has demanded that Armenia provides maps of mines planted in Azerbaijan's previously-occupied territories.

Trend reported that the foreign affairs permanent commission of the Italian Parliament's Lower House adopted a resolution on the implementation of agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The adopted document calls on the parties to take constructive actions to facilitate demining operations on Azerbaijan's liberated regions and subsequently it is proposed to provide maps of mined areas.

The resolution says that Azerbaijan fulfilled its obligations under the trilateral statement signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan in November 220 to end the 44-day war (Karabakh peace deal) and returned all Armenian POWs taken before and during the war.

It calls on the Italian government to support the UN, OSCE and the European Union initiatives to fully implement the Karabakh peace deal and urges the release of all POWs.

The Italian government has also been tasked with working with the governments of both countries on a bilateral level to advance confidence-building measures to establish future peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

At the same time, the Italian government has been instructed to call on the parties to take constructive action to facilitate demining operations and provide maps of minefields, Trend said.

Some experts believe that Armenia spent $350 million to mine lands in and around Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region that were liberated from occupation in the 44-day war.

At a presser for the local and foreign media in Baku on February 26, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described Armenia’s failure to provide the maps of mined areas in liberated lands as the main difficulty for Azerbaijan. He said that this can also be considered to be a war crime as several servicemen and civilians were killed in mine blasts on liberated territories after the war.

It should be noted that 16 Azerbaijanis – including 11 civilians – were killed in mine explosions in the newly-liberated territories since the end of the war on November 10, 2020.

Azerbaijan liberated around 300 villages, city centres, settlements and historic Shusha city in the war with Armenia that lasted from September 27 and November 10. Other Armenian-occupied districts - Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin - returned to Azerbaijan's control after the singing of the Russian-brokered Karabakh peace deal on November 10.