Baku:The 4th International Conference in the Baku Dialogue format, focusing on ‘Strengthening Trust and Developing Effective Mechanisms in Addressing the Issue of Missing Persons,’ commenced at the Gulustan Palace on October 7.
According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, the event was organized by Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons. It attracted former heads of state and government, senior officials from international organizations and foreign countries, experts, and representatives from non-governmental organizations and human rights specialists. Ambassadors, military attachés, and other foreign representatives accredited in Azerbaijan also attended.
Colonel-General Ali Naghiyev, Chief of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan and Chairman of the State Commission, delivered an address from President Ilham Aliyev. He revealed that as of October 1, 2026, the Commission recorded 4,010 Azerbaijanis as missing due to military aggression, with 4,004 disappearing during the First Garabagh War and six during the 44-day Patriotic War. Among the missing, 3,228 are military servicemen and 782 are civilians, including 71 children, 288 women, and 319 elderly individuals.
Naghiyev highlighted the importance of uncovering the fate of each missing person, noting that remains believed to belong to 913 missing individuals have been found, while 253 have been exhumed from 32 mass graves in liberated territories.
Prominent 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; and several others from Turkey, Georgia, the UK, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kuwait.
Photographs by renowned photographer Reza Deghati, depicting various conflict zones, were showcased, and the event continued with panel discussions.