Azerbaijan, Armenia hold talks on missing persons at border meeting

On February 7, 2025, representatives from Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons and Armenia’s Interdepartmental Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons convened at the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border to discuss ongoing efforts to clarify the fate of missing individuals.

According to a statement from the Azerbaijani State Commission, cited by Caliber.Az, both sides exchanged views on the issue and agreed to continue bilateral discussions on the matter.

The issue of enforced disappearances remains a long-standing humanitarian concern for Azerbaijan, where nearly 3,890 individuals — comprising 3,171 servicemen and 719 civilians — remain missing due to Armenia’s military aggression over the past three decades.

Since the early 1990s, Armenia has been accused of taking Azerbaijani civilians and soldiers hostage, subjecting them to mistreatment, and carrying out summary executions.

Despite the prohibition of hostage-taking under international humanitarian law, 267 Azerbaijani civilians — including 29 children, 98 women, and 112 elderly individuals — were captured and never released.

To date, 1,102 Azerbaijani hostages, among them 224 children, 357 women, and 225 elderly people, have been freed from Armenian captivity.

By Tamilla Hasanova