Azerbaijanis in Germany protest at Armenia's refusal to submit mine maps

18 May 2021 16:29 (UTC+04:00)

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By Vafa Ismayilova

A group of Azerbaijanis picketed the UN headquarters in Bonn to protest against Armenia's refusal to submit Azerbaijan maps of mined territories in Karabakh, the State Committee for Work with Diaspora reported on May 17.

The protest was held at the initiative of the German-Azerbaijan House of Culture functioning in Cologne, its chairman Altay Rustamov was quoted as saying.

Along with Azerbaijanis, representatives of the Bonn International Centre for Conversion took part in the action that was organized in line with the quarantine requirements.

During the action, posters were shown informing that the mines planted by the Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijan's liberated territories are dangerous. Later the protesters handed out information flyers to passers-by.

At the end of the action, a declaration was submitted to the UN headquarters, which contains a demand to influence the Armenian government to hand over the mine maps to Azerbaijan.

Some 21 Azerbaijani citizens, including 14 civilians were killed and 87 citizens, 16 civilians were injured in mine explosions in liberated lands since the signing of the Karabakh peace deal on November 10, 2020.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev earlier described Armenia’s failure to provide the mine maps as the main difficulty for Azerbaijani IPDs to return to their homes. He said that this is yet another war crime by Armenia as several servicemen and civilians were killed in mine blasts on the liberated territories after the war.