BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 9. An international conference on "Joining efforts and expanding cooperation to resolve the problem of missing persons" is being held in Baku within the framework of the Baku Dialogue on Missing Persons, organized by the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Missing Persons, and Hostages of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.
First, an address by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to the participants of the international conference was read out, followed by a speech by the Head of the State Security Service (SSS), Chairman of the State Commission, Ali Naghiyev.
The head of the Service informed about the goals and importance of the international event on missing persons, which is being held for the third year, and expressed gratitude to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev for his support in holding the conference, noting the decisive and principled position of the head of our state in the matter of clarifying the fate of missing citizens.
Stating that 3,990 people are currently listed as missing by the State Commission, and that the remains of 218 people from 29 mass graves discovered during excavations in the liberated territories have been identified and exhumed, Ali Naghiyev, head of the State Security Service, noted that 187 missing persons have already been identified and handed over to their families, and as a result of search and reconnaissance work, another mass grave has been discovered in the village of Balligaya in the Aghdara district.
The Chairman of the State Commission reported that Article 9 of the draft “Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia,” initialed on August 8, 2025, in Washington, the capital of the US, provides for mutual activities in the field of determining the fate of missing persons, and he expressed hope that recent regular contacts between the relevant state commissions of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as expanded cooperation with relevant international organizations, will contribute to this work.
Afterwards, other participants spoke on the conference topic, panel sessions were held, and a ceremony was held to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation between the State Commission and the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
