Karabakh will be cleared of mines - ANAMA

Baku/01.09.21/Turan: Last week, from 23.08 to 28.08.2021, the State Mine Clearance Agency (ANAMA) cleared 179 ha of theKarabakh territory neutralizing 77 anti-personnel, 51 anti-tank mines, 107 unexploded objects. This was reported by ANAMA..

During its activity in Karabakh, the ANAMA has cleared about 4.000 ha of the liberated territory.

In total it is required to clear 14.000 square kilometers of the territory. The difficulty is that when leaving the territory Armenians main economic objects — electric lines, water reservoirs, and cemeteries.

President Ilham Aliyev ordered to allocate more than $ 60 million for mine clearance in Karabakh in 2021.

It should be acknowledged that the Azerbaijani agency is assisted by Turkish mine clearance specialists working on minefields in Karabakh and having supplied special equipment. Also, Azerbaijani sappers were trained in Turkey.

In February, Russian specialists arrived to participate in demining the territory of the Aghdam region. Also, Russian peacekeepers are clearing territories in their area of responsibility.

In August, the US Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) handed over 10 dogs specially trained to search for mines to the National Mine Clearance Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA). As a whole, the Institute plans to transfer 30 mine-detecting dogs to Azerbaijan free of charge until July 2023. These dogs will be involved in demining the liberated territories of Azerbaijan in Karabakh, the Agency reported.

However, the land is being cleared slowly which causes dissatisfaction of the Karabakh Azerbaijanis who are seeking to return to the liberated territories. Some of them violate prohibitions, and willfully penetrate dangerous areas and as a result, are blown up by mines. Since the end of the conflict until mid-June, more than 140 people were injured by mines and other explosive devices, 30 people were killed when they were blown up by mines, there are also victims on the Armenian side and among Russian peacekeepers.

Official Baku stated that the maps of the minefields provided by the Armenian side are partially unreliable, and this is a problem. On July 3, it was reported that Armenia, on the initiative of the Russian Federation, handed over to Baku maps of about 92.000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines installed during the Armenian occupation in the Fuzuli and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan. As a response, the Azerbaijani side handed over to Armenia 15 people of Armenian origin who were sentenced to imprisonment by a court decision and whose sentence has expired.

Even earlier, on June 12, 2021, with the assistance of Georgia, the United States and the EU, Armenia handed over maps of minefields in the Aghdam region to Azerbaijan (97.000 mines), in return, Baku handed over 15 previously detained Armenians to Yerevan.

The head of the press service of the ANAM, Farida Ashralova, told Turan that they have enough financial and human resources to work, the department periodically makes announcements about recruiting new people. She refused to specify the number of specialists employed by ANAMA. The department asks the population to be patient and not to enter into dangerous territories.—0—

It has to be added that the entire territory will be cleared of dangerous military items within the time as specified," Ashralova said. It'd be appropriate to recall that the director G. Akhmedov stressed the necessity of approx.---0--