“The tragedy of missing persons is one of the grave consequences of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan,” President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in his letter to the participants of the international conference titled “Addressing the Issue of Missing Persons: Upholding Families’ Right to Know the Truth.”

The head of state pointed out that as a result of the First Karabakh War, up to 4,000 Azerbaijanis had been considered missing for more than 30 years. Among them are civilians, including children and women. Six Azerbaijani citizens went missing in the 2020 Patriotic War.

“The new facts identified after the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from the occupation have again confirmed again the witness testimonies regarding the atrocities committed against the missing Azerbaijanis. As a result of the exhumation work in the mass graves discovered in those territories, irrefutable evidence has been collected that the persons Armenia took prisoner and hostage were subjected to torture, violence and inhumane treatment, and killed,” the Azerbaijani President noted.