19:45

Meeting of the State Commission on the work done over the past period and upcoming tasks held

On June 17, a meeting of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons was held.  After the Chief of the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan, chairman of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons Ali Naghiyev announced the first meeting of the commission in a new composition approved by the relevant Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the respected memory of our martyrs who fell for the Motherland was honored with a minute of silence.

Talking about the work done by the State Commission in recent years, the Chairman Ali Naghiyev emphasized that the information about 3890 Azerbaijani citizens who went missing in the First Karabakh War has not been submitted by Armenia in violation of the international humanitarian law norms and only the remains of more than 100 missing persons have been handed over and the process of identification is currently being carried out. At the same time, it was reported that after the end of Patriotic War, 12 of our servicemen were wounded and taken prisoner, and they were returned to their homeland with the help of international organization. The fate of 6 of our soldiers still remains uncertain. However, The Republic of Azerbaijan, always guided by the principles of humanism, returned to the other side the remains of 1713 Armenian servicemen and 159 Armenian prisoners of war who were detained at different times and were found in the lands liberated from the enemy after the historical Victory.

The chairman of the Commission noted that following instructions of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, intensive and urgent measures for the search of our missing persons will be carried our continuously and promptly and the existing international cooperation in this direction shall be further expanded. At the same time, it was highlighted that appropriate measures have been taken regarding the repatriation and rehabilitation of family members, especially women and children detained in Iraq and Syria, of the people who fought as a part of illegal armed groups during armed conflicts in the Middle East and 366 people from both countries have been gradually repatriated so far.

Then the secretary of the State Commission, the head of the Working Group Ismayil Akhundov gave a speech providing extensive information about the important measures taken by the State Commission in recent years under the leadership of Mr. Ali Naghiyev in relation to the captives and missing persons and said that the activity of the institution entered qualitatively new stage, emphasizing the fact of establishing close cooperation relations  with the reputable international organizations in this field and talked about the successful application of new technologies in the process of the search for human remains. The speaker stated that until today, total of 282 forensic molecular-genetic examinations have been performed on the remains handed over by Armenia, including those found in the liberated territories and buried in unknown martyr’s cemeteries in the country.

At the event, Emil Safarov, head of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave a report on the repatriation of Azerbaijani citizens detained in Iraq and Syria, and provided detailed information on the work done and to be done in this field in the future. 

Later, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mrs. Arian Bauer, members  of the State Commission - Vice President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Isa Habibbeyli, military prosecutor Khanlar Valiyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalaf Khalafov, deputy of the chairman of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs Sadagat Kahramanova, the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the State Support Agency for Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan Azay Guliyev spoke and exchanged wide views over the issues on the agenda in their fields of work. It was noted that during the First Karabakh War, the International Committee of the Red Cross visited 54 citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan who were detained both in the territory of Armenia and in occupied territories and the bodies of 17 of them were later handed over to Azerbaijan, 33 were declared dead but their bodies were not returned, and the fate of 4 was not reported at all.

At the end of the meeting, the chairman of the State Commission Ali Naghiyev spoke in detail about the upcoming important tasks and emphasized that the activities of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev in the International arena in the direction of clarifying the fate of our war prisoners and missing citizens are particularly commendable and also indicated that all forces and means will be mobilized to fulfill the issues and tasks assigned to the State Commission.