Armenia’s ministry of defense willing to cooperate with Azerbaijan on missing people, under auspices of Red Cross
04.02.2015,
13:10
Armenia’s ministry of defense is ready to cooperate, within its competence and under the Red Cross auspices, with Azerbaijan on exchange of missing persons, deputy minister of defense David Tonoyan said at his meeting with Head of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia Sarah Epprecht, as cited by the press office of the ministry.
YEREVAN, February 4. /ARKA/. Armenia’s ministry of defense is ready to cooperate, within its competence and under the Red Cross auspices, with Azerbaijan on exchange of missing persons, deputy minister of defense David Tonoyan said at his meeting with Head of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia Sarah Epprecht, as cited by the press office of the ministry.
Tonoyan said the cooperation will aim at meeting the international humanitarian law requirements.
The sides discussed also the ways to implement agreements on exchange of information about missing persons in the Karabakh conflict.
Tonoyan said Armenia has been effectively cooperating with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and intends to continue these efforts.
Sarah Epprecht, in her turn, said ICRC’s priority is to find some 4,500 people lost after the conflict.
The Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when prevailingly Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1991, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh where 99.89% voted for independence from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan responded by large-scale military operations that led to loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over seven adjoining areas. About 25-30 thousand people were killed and about a million had to leave their homes during the military operations.
A trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004, and has been followed since then. The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France. –0--
