Baku: Azerbaijan has expressed its desire for the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to mediate with Armenia regarding the issue of missing persons. General-Lieutenant Sharafat Hasanov, Deputy Head of the State Security Service, highlighted this at the presentation of the “Assessment Report on the Search for Missing Persons in the Republic of Azerbaijan,” organized by the State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, Hasanov emphasized the importance of ICMP’s international influence in facilitating the provision of information about burial sites of missing persons from Armenia to Azerbaijan. This effort aligns with the Framework Agreement on the collection and centralized management of “Ante Mortem” data on individuals missing during the First Karabakh War, established between the State Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross Representation in Azerbaijan in 2008. Since 2014, biological samples from relatives of missing Azerbaijani citizens have been collected.

The Genetic Research Center, formed in 2022 within the Military Medical Department of the State Security Service, has been leading the collection of biological samples since 2023, following President Ilham Aliyev’s directive. As of March 1, samples from over 11,000 donors related to more than 3,700 missing persons have been collected and organized. The DNA profiles from these samples are preserved and managed by the Genetic Research Center.

Hasanov also mentioned that the nearly 30-year occupation of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territories has hindered efforts to uncover the fate of the country’s missing citizens.