BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 14
By Jani Babayeva - Trend:
The exchange of minefield maps of Azerbaijan’s Aghdam district for 15 Armenian detainees is a significant event both in terms of the region’s development and the formation of the country’s international reputation, Russian expert, candidate of political sciences, senior lecturer of St.Petersburg State University Galina Niyazova told Trend.
According to Niyazova, demining of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories [which were liberated from Armenian occupation as a result of the Second Karabakh war from late Sept. to early Nov.2020] is a primary task for returning ‘human appearance’ to the region after decades of devastation during the occupation.
"The safety of citizens is the basis of statehood. It’s obvious that after demining, the territories will attract even more foreign investors, who are already ready to take part in the restoration of Karabakh,” she said. “The agreement on the exchange of detained Armenians for minefield maps is undoubtedly the result of long negotiations that didn’t stop despite the statements from Armenia that they can withdraw from the negotiations at any moment.”
The expert stressed that so far only the Azerbaijani state has been responsible for its words.
"Moreover, Armenia’s using minefield maps as an object of bargaining human lives negatively affects its international reputation," added Niyazova.
As earlier reported, Azerbaijan returned 15 detained Armenians back to Armenia with the participation of Georgian representatives on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border on June 12, 2021, in exchange for providing the Azerbaijani side with maps of 97,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in Azerbaijan’s Aghdam district, liberated from Armenian occupation.