Baku hosts 4th International Conference in Baku Dialogue format on Missing Persons
Baku, October 7, AZERTAC
The 4th International Conference in the Baku Dialogue format on “Strengthening Trust and Developing Effective Mechanisms in Addressing the Issue of Missing Persons” kicked off at the Gulustan Palace on October 7.
Organized by Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, the conference brings together former heads of state and government, senior officials of international organizations and foreign countries, heads of institutions dealing with missing persons, experts, representatives of non-governmental organizations, human rights specialists, as well as ambassadors, military attachés, and other representatives of foreign countries accredited in Azerbaijan.
Colonel-General Ali Naghiyev, Chief of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan and Chairman of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, read out an address by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the participants of the conference.
In his remarks, Colonel-General Ali Naghiyev noted that, as of October 1, 2026, 4,010 Azerbaijanis had been recorded as missing by the Commission as a result of military aggression.
According to him, of these, 4,004 went missing during the First Garabagh War, while six went missing during the 44-day Patriotic War. Moreover, 3,228 missing persons are military servicemen, while 782 are civilians, including 71 children, 288 women, and 319 elderly people.
Naghiyev emphasized that these figures clearly demonstrate the scale of the tragedy, adding that the Commission’s main task is to shed light on the fate of every missing individual.
“As of October 1, 2026, human remains believed to belong to 913 missing persons have been discovered and recovered. The remains believed to belong to 253 individuals have been exhumed from 32 mass graves discovered in the liberated territories,” the State Security Service Chief added.
Other speakers included Fariz Rzayev, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Viktor Yushchenko, former Ukrainian President; Kathryne Csekey Bomberger, Director-General of the International Commission on Missing Persons; Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, former Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs; Şamil Ayrım, member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly; Gian Luca Beruto, Secretary-General of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law; Tea Akhvlediani, Georgian State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality; Lord Graham Brady, member of the House of Lords of the UK Parliament; Chiril Gaburici, former Moldovan Prime Minister; Mladen Ivanić, former member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Rabea Saad Al-Adsani, Kuwaiti Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The participants also viewed photographs taken by world-renowned photographer Reza Deghati in various conflict zones.
The event proceeded with panel discussions.
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