BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11. More than three
decades after the First Karabakh War, 4,009 Azerbaijani citizens
remain officially registered as missing.
This is stated in a post on X social network by Assistant to the
President of Azerbaijan—Head of the Foreign Policy Department of
the Presidential Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev.
Hajiyev described the issue of missing persons as one of the
most painful humanitarian consequences of the Armenia–Azerbaijan
conflict, noting that thousands of families continue to live with
uncertainty regarding the fate and whereabouts of their loved
ones.
According to him, ongoing search, recovery and identification
efforts have led to the exhumation of 889 sets of human remains in
Azerbaijan's liberated territories. Through DNA testing and
forensic analysis, 313 missing persons have been identified, while
the remains of 226 individuals have been returned to their families
for dignified burial.
He noted that the discovery of 32 mass graves in the liberated
territories provides further evidence of the scale of the
humanitarian tragedy and highlights the urgent need for continued
cooperation in clarifying the fate of the missing.
"Addressing the issue of missing persons is not only a
humanitarian obligation. It is a matter of justice, human dignity,
reconciliation and lasting peace. Every identified person brings a
family closer to answers. Every recovered remain helps restore
truth and preserve memory," he wrote.
