BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 23. An awareness campaign highlighting the tragic consequences of landmines, systematically planted by Armenian armed forces in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region during the occupation, was held in London and Manchester, Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with Diaspora told Trend.
During the event organized by the UK-Azerbaijan community, trucks with LED screens displaying various slogans, hashtags, and information moved through crowded central streets of the cities.
Meanwhile, the vehicles attracted the attention of local residents as they drove through London's Oxford, Regent, Piccadilly streets, Westminster Bridge, Parliament Square, and Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens, King, New Cathedral, Cheetham Hill Road, Canal streets, and others.
The information displayed on the screens highlighted facts such as the planting of 1.5 million landmines by Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijani territory during the occupation, the high level of landmine contamination covering 147,988 hectares of land, and 675,570 hectares at medium and low levels.
From 1991 to date, 3,393 people, including women and children, have fallen victim to landmines, and the number of landmine victims from November 10, 2020 [when trilateral statement was signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders to end the second Karabakh war], to September 19, 2023, reached 314 people, including 67 fatalities.
The information also included #stoparmeniancrimes, #MapsForKarabakhSafety, and #KarabakhSafety hashtags.
On September 19, 2023, a terrorist attack occurred near the village of Taghavard in the Khojavand district. A KAMAZ truck transporting personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan was struck by an explosion caused by a mine that had been previously planted by unauthorized Armenian armed groups. Notably, these groups had not withdrawn from Azerbaijani territory, despite the provisions outlined in the trilateral statement.
Consequently, Azerbaijan initiated anti-terror measures aimed at addressing the presence of unauthorized Armenian forces and remnants of the Armenian armed forces in Karabakh.
As a result, in under 24 hours, the Azerbaijani Army has managed to take control of more than 90 combat positions of the Armenian armed forces units. At the same time, seven combat vehicles, one tank, four mortars, and two infantry fighting vehicles were captured as trophies from the Armenian armed forces units.
Thus, on September 20, at 13:00 (GMT+4), and agreement has been reached to stop the anti-terrorist activities under several terms.
First, the units of Armenia's armed forces deployed in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, as well as illegal armed groups, are required to relinquish their weaponry, vacate their combat positions and military bases, and undergo thorough disarmament. Concurrently, the surrender of all ammunition and heavy military equipment is enforced. At the same time, the implementation of the aforementioned procedure should be coordinated with the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, temporarily stationed in Karabakh.