Azerbaijani state commission urges media to exercise caution

The State Commission for the Affairs of Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Citizens commented on the information disseminated by the media that the remains of Gasanov Rahman Ahliman oglu, who went missing during the First Karabakh War, were found and exhumed 31 years later.

According to Caliber.Az, the commission's statement notes that martyr Hasanov Rahman Ahliman oglu died heroically in a battle with the Armenian Armed Forces in 1992. At the same time, his body was taken out of the battlefield and buried in the village of Suarasy in Lachin District. For this reason, the name of Gasanov Rahman Ahliman oglu is not registered with the State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Citizens.

“The other day relatives of Rahman Hasanov visited his grave,” the State Commission reported.

The State Commission also called on the media not to spread unverified information about the missing, given the sensitive nature of this issue.

To recap, in general, more than 400 human remains have been found in the mass graves identified so far.

In early April 2023, Azerbaijan published the list of mass grave sites in the direction of Fuzuli Distric’s Yukhari Seyidahmadli, Ashagi Seyidahmadli, Malikjanli, Yukhari Veysalli villages, in the direction of Jabrayil Dsitrict’s Darzili, Chaytumas villages, near Kalbajar District’s Baghirli, Yanshag, Qamishlig, Aghdaban villages, in the area called Buzlug mountain, on the height of Murovdag, in the territory of the city of Kalbajar, in Aghdam District’s Sugovushan, Sarijali, Garagashli, Gulluja villages, Gubadli District’s Goyyal village, in the Shusha city cemetery, Khojavand District’s Edilli village, and in the territory of Khankandi city, Khojaly and Khojavand districts, as well as the former Aghdara district, which are currently under the temporary control of Russian peacekeepers.

Armenia, which promised to cooperate with Azerbaijan to determine the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis, still fails to return the bodies of servicemen, who went missing during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

Armenia has yet to provide information about the mass graves of 3,890 missing Azerbaijani citizens (including 71 children, 267 women and 326 elderly people).