Relatives of Azerbaijanis who went missing during the First Karabakh War demonstrated outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Oct. 20, calling on Armenia to open its archives and provide information about burial sites and the fate of their loved ones.
The peaceful gathering in Place du Luxembourg was organized by the Karabakh Missing Families public association, Report and APA reported.
Participants appealed to European institutions to pay attention to families who have waited more than 30 years for answers. They said progress in the peace process should be accompanied by efforts to establish what happened to the missing.
A statement read at the demonstration said 4,010 Azerbaijanis went missing during the war, including 71 children, 288 women and 319 older people. That figure represents those who disappeared during the conflict, not the number whose fate remains unknown today.
The same statement said 32 mass graves had been found in territories returned to Azerbaijani control. Genetic examinations had identified 328 missing people, and the remains of 273 had been handed over to their families. The figures describe cumulative results, not discoveries or identifications made on a single day.
Photographs, personal belongings and symbolic letters written in the names of the missing were displayed in the square. Organizers said they intended to continue holding demonstrations in Europe as they sought information about their relatives.
Source: Vesti Baku.