Azerbaijani, Turkish sappers demine Tartar, Goranboy

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani and Turkish military engineer-sappers continue mine clearance activities on the liberated territories, the Defence Ministry has reported.

The demining activities and engineering work are underway to ensure traffic safety and to build new supply roads for military positions located in the mountainous terrain, the report added.

During the road construction in Tartar and Goranboy regions, 537 anti-personnel and 101 anti-tank mines laid by Armenia were detected and defused from November 22 to December 2.

Overall, 13,177 hectares of territory were cleared of mines, 616 kilometers of roads were laid, 16,860 mines and unexploded ordnance were detected and utilized by the engineering units on the liberated territories so far.

Azerbaijan’s engineer-sapper units have been equipped with "MEMATT" mechanical demining supply produced by the Turkish defence company ASFAT. The equipment is being used for demining the settlements and arable lands, the ministry said.

All necessary measures are being taken to provide engineering support to the Azerbaijani military units serving in the liberated lands, the report concluded.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.

About 180 Azerbaijanis have been killed or injured in the explosion of mines laid by Armenians in Azerbaijan’s formerly occupied regions since the end of the war in autumn 2020 that saw Azerbaijan liberate most of its territories in and around Karabakh.

On June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in formerly-occupied Aghdam.

On July 3, Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan maps of about 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation of Fuzuli and Zangilan regions.

In his interview to CNN Turk channel on August 14, President Ilham Aliyev said that the accuracy of the maps provided by Armenia at the latest stage is only 25 percent.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered peace agreement on November 10, 2020, to end 44 days of fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.