Category: Azer News

Wars end with ceasefires, declarations, and, at last, with peace agreements. Landmines never end. They lie waiting – in fields, on roadsides, in riverbeds, and under the ruins of homes that once stood, ready to attack long after the political conflicts that spawned them are settled. In Azerbaijan, where liberation from occupation lasting for more than thirty years has resulted in one of the most daring reconstruction attempts in the post-Soviet space, the war happening underground has never been declared, and no one has ever won it yet.

The magnitude of the problem is exceptional by any worldwide standard. Around 11,667 square kilometers of Azerbaijani territory, almost 13% of its territory, have been contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance. There are more than one million explosive devices buried in Azerbaijani soil. After the 2020 war, 437 citizens of Azerbaijan became victims of mine and unexploded ordnance accidents: 73 dead and 364 seriously wounded people. Those casualties include deminers, reconstruction workers, journalists, and civilians coming back home to their ancestral lands. In total, more than 3,500 people have been victims of mines since the conflict started in the late 1980s. This is the latest known information.

It was in this context that the 4th International Mine Action Conference was held in Baku this week, attended by experts in mine action, diplomats, UN organisations, the EU, NATO, ASEAN and delegates from China, Israel, Trkiye and a dozen other mine-affected nations. The philosophy behind the conference was carefully thought out and, compared to similar conferences, quite ambitious – it was not a technical conference focused on clearance rates and coverage.

The underlying theme that characterized the sessions during the conference could be summarized concisely. A mine is more than a weapon. A mine is a barrier. Clearing a mine does not immediately mean safety; it means making a precondition for safety. What comes next is housing, roads, agricultural land, schools, hospitals, jobs, community- involves an entirely different set of steps, investments, and time that demining cannot accomplish on its own. A cleared area is not necessarily farmland. A surveyed road is not an operating village.

This has long been the position taken by Azerbaijan internationally, and it came across clearly through the conference’s agenda. The first session of the conference directly linked mine action to urban renewal, reconstruction plans and economic development opportunities. And the message was clear to donors and other international stakeholders. Funding mine action separately from the reconstruction that the process is designed to make possible is insufficient. The two must go hand in hand, or they will work against each other. Removing a mine is a prerequisite to all that follows. It is not an end in itself but rather a gateway.

Political dimension

Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Center of Analysis of International Relations, made a point on the conference’s sidelines that cut through the technical discussions with unusual directness. “Yes, this is actually a political problem,” he told AzerNEWS. “The mine issue has several dimensions, including casualties and technical challenges, but what interests us in this context is its political dimension.”

“After the Second Garabagh War, Armenia had time to withdraw from the territories, yet mines were planted during that period. In 2021 and 2022, mines were laid in some areas as well. This was not 30 years ago, it was only two, three, four or five years ago. When those mines were laid, the people who carried out those operations were in Armenia or had knowledge of these activities. Therefore, if this information is not provided, I believe there is a lack of political will to resolve the issue.”

Maps produced by the Armenian side have proved to be mostly inaccurate according to Azerbaijan’s perspective as well as third-party assessments. Mines have been detected where the maps stated they had been removed, and vice versa. Although the Armenian side argues that maps were recorded with imprecision during the mining operation period, which might technically be true, it does not satisfy the politics behind the situation, especially considering the information about planting new mines in the territory in question during the withdrawal period from 2021 to 2022. The problem of the mine is an integral part of the normalization process between the two countries, and solving it will be impossible without information exchange.

What AI can and cannot do

Technology was the conference’s second major theme, and the ambitions expressed were genuine. And indeed in that regard, the AI trend appears as the latest addition to that. Tim Lardner, Director for Europe and Central Asia at UNOPS, did not understate the potential.

“I think AI is going to bring a revolution in the demining world. I think that we’ve seen over the last two years particularly how technology has brought incredible advances in our ability to locate, to destroy and to move on from some of the landmines. I think we’re only at the beginning of the ability and the opportunity to use AI and advanced technologies to improve demining.”

Lardner has spent three decades working on mine action, and his evaluation of the rate of change made it clear that “what we’re doing now is so different to what we were doing before.” Technologies such as AI-assisted surveying, drone mapping, advanced detection systems, and data platforms have already enabled faster identification and clearing of contaminated territories. However, the question remains of how to use them on a scale corresponding to Azerbaijan’s needs – and whether there is financing available for this purpose.

SDG 18 initiative: Azerbaijan has developed the National Sustainable Development Goal No. 18 on mine action, which is a truly unique step and recognizes demining as an accelerator for all other 17 SDGs and the UN 2030 Agenda. As Erfan Ali, Director of UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for East Europe and Central Asia, said, this is “a very important example to be shared with other contexts,” including Ukraine, Syria, and Lebanon.

The international community’s role, and its limits

Duncan Norman, the UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan, spoke on the sidelines about the nature of international commitment. The UK was the first country to support ANAMA, Azerbaijan’s mine action agency, back in 2020, and has continued to do so. But his language was careful.

“There is, of course, an enormous amount to do, and it’s right that the international community plays a part in this. The mines are a constant reminder of the past, and what we all want to do is put the conflict behind us and look to move forward. And mine action work is an important part of that.”

The financing issue is always the most politically sensitive in any mine-action meeting. Azerbaijan’s mine issue, according to different measures, can be regarded as one of the largest and most complicated in the world. However, the country’s own efforts have reached a considerable level. Yet, Erfan Ali of UN-Habitat was very clear about the situation. “The volume of contamination in Azerbaijan is massive,” he remarked. “The efforts are extremely important and extremely advanced and nationally led.” The other truth is that “further progress will need greater international partnership and engagement,” he continued. Development banks, private financiers, and bilateral donors’ involvement in funding the clearance and reconstruction efforts are not marginal but structural. Efforts in clearing mines without investing in reconstruction are fruitless. Likewise, reconstruction efforts that outpace mine clearance pose a danger to the process.

Now, what recovery actually looks like, and has there been any improvement?

The conference itself provided at least two specific answers to this question. On the margins of the conference, ANAMA and the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration in humanitarian demining, thus extending Azerbaijan’s mine action network to include Southeast Asia where there is already considerable experience accumulated in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The MOU, signed by ANAMA chairman Vugar Suleymanov and ARMAC executive director Rothna But, concerns exchanges of experience, good practices, and joint activities. Meanwhile, Salem Al-Qahtani of the Saudi Foreign Ministry stated that Riyadh will provide $3 million for humanitarian demining in Azerbaijan, specifically for ‘creation of a safe environment for the civilian population and repatriation of displaced persons.’

The conference’s final statement gave this idea an institutional form. Its participants called for humanitarian mine action to be fully integrated into urban recovery, reconstruction, safe return and sustainable development, rather than treated as a standalone technical exercise. They also stressed that demining is among the first conditions for restoring safe settlements, rebuilding destroyed cities and villages, and enabling displaced populations to return to their places of origin.

But perhaps, the conference’s most important contribution may have been conceptual rather than operational: establishing, in a room of international experts and donors, that the right question to ask about Azerbaijan’s mine crisis is not “when will the last mine be cleared?” but “when will people be able to live here again?” Clearance is a technical operation with a measurable endpoint. Recovery is a social and economic process whose endpoint is a functioning community, with schools, health services, livelihoods, and the intangible quality of a place that feels safe enough to build a life in.

The point remains distant for most of the liberated territories. The Great Return program of resettlement of hundreds of thousands of displaced Azerbaijanis in their native places is being implemented; however, the speed of implementation is limited by the same chain of dependencies that was identified at the conference: first comes clearance, then housing construction, after which there should come services, sustainable community. Everything takes time and money. Every step is dependent on the previous one. And under it all, in the soil of Garabagh and East Zangezur, the mines wait.

The ultimate criterion to assess the meaning of this conference cannot be found either in its statements or in the partnerships that it established. The criterion would be whether the people, displaced from these lands, could someday walk across them without fear. This is the objective that cannot be substituted by any technology or declaration made by the international community alone. It demands political will, financial resources, clearance works, and a hard-to-promote process of reconstruction. They have to make the ground beneath their feet once more a place of life.

A solo exhibition by contemporary artist Ali Seyran Imanzade has opened at the Vajiha Samadova Exhibition Hall of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists, attracting considerable attention from art enthusiasts and visitors.

Guests viewed the artist’s works with interest, admiring his distinctive approach to colour, form and composition.

Speaking at the opening, Farhad Khalilov, chairman of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists, People’s Artist and professor, highlighted the artistic significance of Imanzade’s work and noted his distinctive style and approach to colour, form and composition.

Much of the 58-year-old artist’s career has been spent in Europe. Over the past 24 years, he has lived and worked abroad, particularly in France and Belgium, where his works have been exhibited.

The exhibition offers an insight into Imanzade’s artistic world, where Eastern traditions meet European avant-garde influences. Fauvism, Cubism and elements of medieval Azerbaijani miniature painting come together to form his distinctive visual language.

Human figures, faces, interior objects and landscape elements are broken down into geometric components such as planes, triangles and trapezoids. These shapes overlap and interlock, giving the compositions a mosaic-like quality.

Beneath the bold interplay of colour and form lies a strong connection to Azerbaijan’s artistic heritage. Imanzade draws on the visual language of medieval Azerbaijani miniatures, reinterpreting it through the vocabulary of contemporary art. From miniature painting come the decorative quality, poetic character and sense of narrative; from Cubism, the geometry, structure and idea of viewing an object from several perspectives at once. Figures and objects become part of a unified composition, at times resembling the patterns of an ornamental carpet.

Colour plays a central role in his work. Pure, saturated tones enclosed by sharp contours create an internal rhythm and emotional intensity. Scenes that initially appear static acquire a sense of movement through contrasts of colour and geometric form.

At the same time, this visual dynamism does not disrupt the balance of the compositions. The people portrayed by the artist often appear immersed in moments of silence and contemplation. Against the energetic geometry surrounding them, they remain calm and focused. This contrast between the movement of the forms and the quietness of the figures gives the paintings much of their character.

The exhibition in Baku offers an opportunity to see how an artist who has spent many years working in the European art scene has maintained a connection with his cultural roots while continuing to develop his own voice in contemporary art.

In Imanzade’s paintings, East and West do not appear as opposing worlds. They meet within the same artistic space, shaped by colour, geometry, memory and contemplation.

A unique ‘kindergarten’ for robots has been opened in China, where researchers are testing a new approach to machine learning. Instead of teaching robots every action in advance, scientists want them to learn independently through experiments, mistakes, and repeated attempts.

The training center was created by the Chinese company Tashan Technology. Researchers believe that this method could allow robots to continue adapting even after they are deployed in the real world, including in situations they were never specifically trained for.

For example, if a robot crashes into a wall during training, it can analyze the failure, change its route, and try again. In this way, mistakes become useful learning data rather than simply being treated as failures.

Wang Peng, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that independent exploration of the environment could help robots move beyond narrow training for specific tasks. Instead, they may gradually develop a more fundamental understanding of the physical world and how objects around them behave.

However, this type of learning requires much more time. Robots may need to make hundreds or even thousands of attempts before they learn how to deal with a new situation. Still, researchers believe that the ability to make mistakes and learn from them could become an important part of the future of robotics.

In the long term, scientists also hope that robots will be able to share their experiences with one another. If one robot learns how to overcome a particular obstacle or complete a new task, other robots could potentially use that knowledge instead of learning everything from scratch.

Interestingly, this approach is similar to the way young children learn. They do not simply follow instructions – they explore, make mistakes, and gradually understand how the world works. Perhaps the idea of a ‘kindergarten’ is therefore more than just a funny name: it reflects a completely different way of teaching machines.

Kuwaiti air defense forces actively engaged incoming hostile missile and drone threats on Thursday, according to an official statement issued by the General Staff of the Kuwait Armed Forces.

Military officials reassured the public that any loud explosions heard across the region stem from air defense interception operations engaging hostile aerial targets. Authorities strongly urged citizens and residents to remain vigilant and strictly follow safety and security guidelines issued by relevant state agencies.

The incident comes amid heightened regional instability. Local channels report that the incoming strikes targeted U.S. military installations in Kuwait, allegedly launched from Iranian positions, signaling continued defiance against recent warnings issued by Washington. Military authorities have not yet confirmed the full extent of potential damage or casualties resulting from the interception efforts.

On September 3, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Pere Joan Pons Sampietro.

Noting that one of the existing conflicts in the OSCE area had been resolved and that lasting peace had been ensured in the region, Joan Pons Sampietro, in this regard, congratulated President Ilham Aliyev on the achievements in the peace agenda between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Expressing his gratitude for the congratulations, the Azerbaijani President regretfully stressed that the OSCE Minsk Group, which has been responsible for resolving the conflict for nearly 30 years, had failed to achieve any results in the negotiation process, and that the UN Security Council resolutions demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the territories of Azerbaijan had not been implemented.

President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan itself had put an end to the conflict through military and political means, restoring its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

During the conversation, the sides expressed satisfaction with Azerbaijan’s contacts and political dialogue with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, unlike with some other European parliamentary institutions.

The meeting emphasized the importance of demonstrating a balanced attitude toward the entire OSCE area on the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s agenda.

The meeting also highlighted intercultural dialogue and commended Azerbaijan’s role and contributions in the process.

Emphasizing the importance of the 4th International Mine Action Conference on the theme ‘Humanitarian Demining for Urban Recovery: Setting Standards of Excellence for Safe Settlements’, Pere Joan Pons Sampietro noted that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly also addresses the issue of landmines on its agenda.

Vanuatu has filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against France over the disputed Matthew and Hunter Islands. Paris, however, has said it will not relinquish its sovereignty over the territories and will respond to the court’s application “in due course.”

France has reiterated that it will not give up its sovereignty over the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are also claimed by Vanuatu. French Minister Delegate for Francophonie and International Partnerships Eléonore Caroit made the statement during the 55th meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum.

In its application to the ICJ, Vanuatu is seeking recognition of its sovereignty over the islands, known as Umaenupne (Matthew) and Umaeneg/Leka (Hunter), as well as the establishment of a single maritime boundary between the exclusive economic zones and continental shelves of Vanuatu and France.

The case has also attracted attention from the Baku Initiative Group (BIG), an international non-governmental organization based in Azerbaijan that has expressed support for Vanuatu’s position in the dispute. BIG has said it stands ready to facilitate dialogue between the parties and provide an impartial platform for consultations over the maritime border issue.

The application is based on Article 38, paragraph 5, of the ICJ Rules. This mechanism allows a state to bring a case before the court even when the other party has not previously consented to the court’s jurisdiction.

However, the ICJ has indicated that no procedural steps will be taken and the case will not be entered on the court’s General List unless France accepts the court’s jurisdiction in the matter.

Thus, while Vanuatu’s application has brought the long-standing diplomatic and legal dispute back into the spotlight, whether the case will actually be heard by the ICJ currently depends on France’s decision on whether to accept the court’s jurisdiction.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Pere Joan Pons Sanpietro.

According to the information, the meeting focused on issues on the cooperation agenda between Azerbaijan and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, current security challenges in the OSCE area, the situation in the region, as well as the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agenda.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov emphasized that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, noting that interparliamentary dialogue plays an important role in promoting mutual understanding, trust and cooperation across the OSCE area. In this regard, the activities of the Azerbaijani Parliament within the OSCE PA, mutual visits and meetings held at various levels were highlighted as contributing to the development of bilateral relations.

The minister briefed his counterpart on Azerbaijan’s efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region. Azerbaijan’s position on the progress achieved in the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and on advancing the peace agenda was also presented.

The meeting also addressed humanitarian issues in the post-conflict period. Bayramov stated that the mine threat remains a serious danger for Azerbaijan. In addition to posing a threat to human life, landmines continue to hinder reconstruction and development efforts in the liberated territories, the return of internally displaced persons to their native lands, and regional development.

The minister also stressed the importance of determining the fate of nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis who remain missing.

The sides also exchanged views on Azerbaijan’s contribution to regional and broader international energy security. Bayramov provided information on Azerbaijan’s role as a reliable energy partner in ensuring Europe’s energy security, projects aimed at diversifying energy sources and routes, as well as initiatives in the field of green energy.

Azerbaijan’s contribution to the development of regional connectivity as a country located at the crossroads of major transport corridors was also highlighted. The importance of developing the Middle Corridor, expanding transport and logistics opportunities connecting Europe and Central Asia via the Caspian Sea, and opening regional communications for peace, stability and economic development was emphasized.

The meeting also touched upon the growing strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries. It was noted that the transformation of the C5 format into the C6 format creates new opportunities for cooperation.

The sides further exchanged views on current challenges in the OSCE area and other regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Private payrolls in the United States rose by 38,000 in August, Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) said in its report published on Wednesday. The figure missed analysts’ expectations.

Education and health services recorded the biggest increase in new hirings, with 45,000 new jobs added. However, a decrease in employment was observed across manufacturing, professional services, and information. The manufacturing sector lost 17,000 jobs, followed by a 16,000 decrease in professional and business services. Trade, transportation, and utilities, and natural resource and mining sectors both lost 5,000 positions.

Large enterprises with over 500 employees made 34,000 new hires, mid-sized businesses with between 250 and 499 workers lost 2,000 jobs, and those between 50 and 249 workers hired 2,000 people.

Peru has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Iran, the South American country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

“The Government of Peru has decided to sever diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry noted that the decision was linked, among other factors, to the situation in the Middle East and Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz.

It also added that the move does not entail the termination of consular relations between the two countries.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow maritime passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, holding significant strategic importance as approximately 20% of global oil supplies and around 25% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports pass through it. Essentially, it serves as an energy artery for countries in Asia, Europe, and even the United States.

The strait separates Iran from Oman, and in some areas, the width of the shipping channel is only two miles on each side. Given its critical role in global energy supply chains, ensuring the safety and security of this vital waterway is paramount for international trade and economic stability.

Azerbaijan has allocated approximately $590 million to humanitarian demining activities since November 2020, with only around 4 percent of the funding coming from international support, Chairman of the Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA) Vugar Suleymanov said.

Speaking at the 4th International Mine Action Conference in Baku, Suleymanov said the figures demonstrate Azerbaijan’s strong national ownership in addressing the mine problem left by decades of conflict.

‘Since November 2020, approximately 590 million US Dollars has been allocated to humanitarian demining activities in the country. Only around 4% of this amount has come from international support, while the remaining part has been covered by the Government of Azerbaijan,’ he said.

According to Suleymanov, ANAMA and other institutions involved in humanitarian demining have cleared more than 298,000 hectares of land and neutralized more than 260,000 mines and other explosive remnants of war since the end of the 44-day Patriotic War.

He stressed, however, that the scale of contamination remains extremely large, making stronger international support necessary to accelerate clearance operations and reduce risks to civilians.

‘Stronger international support is essential to accelerate clearance, reduce risks for civilians, and enable the timely implementation of urban recovery and development projects in the liberated territories,’ Suleymanov said.

He emphasized that international cooperation should extend beyond direct support for mine-clearance operations, arguing that humanitarian mine action should be viewed as an investment in human security, safe return and sustainable development.

‘International cooperation in mine action should not be seen only as support to clearance operations. It should be understood as an investment in human security, safe return, sustainable development and long-term peace,’ he said.

Suleymanov made the remarks during the conference dedicated to the theme ‘Humanitarian Demining for Urban Recovery: Setting Standards of Excellence for Safe Settlements.’

He said Azerbaijan is ready to share its experience with international partners while also learning from other countries and organizations involved in mine action.

‘No country can address the mine problem alone. International cooperation, technical exchange, donor support, innovation and strong national ownership are all necessary if we want to move from contamination to recovery, and from risk to resilience,’ he added.