Archive · 8 Oct 2026
Armenia and Azerbaijan Discuss Expanding Search for War Missing
Armenia and Azerbaijan are trying to learn what happened to people who went missing during their conflicts.
Their leaders discussed working more closely on the issue.
The countries’ commissions have exchanged information since February 2025.
Armenia sent DNA profiles for 50 missing people, but Azerbaijan said none matched remains it had found.
Azerbaijan also shared a list of 834 people it believes were captured or taken hostage.
The two countries’ peace agreement says they should share information and search for missing people.
Azerbaijan says 4,010 of its citizens remain missing from the conflicts.
The leaders say resolving these cases could help build trust and lasting peace.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he discussed strengthening cooperation on missing persons with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
The countries’ commissions have been in direct contact since February 2025, Azerbaijan said at a conference in Baku.
Armenia provided DNA profiles for 50 missing ethnic Armenians in January; Azerbaijan said none matched recovered human remains.
Azerbaijan gave Armenia a list of 834 citizens it believes were taken prisoner or hostage during the first Karabakh war, including details on 104 people.
A US-brokered peace agreement initialled in August 2025 calls for information sharing, searches for remains and investigations into disappearances.
- Who
- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and the countries’ missing-persons commissions.
- What
- They discussed intensifying cooperation and information-sharing to establish the fate of people missing from conflicts.
- When
- Pashinyan made the comments on Thursday; the article is dated October 8. The discussion date was not specified.
- Where
- The comments came as a conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded.
- Why
- The countries say resolving the fate of missing people is a humanitarian issue and could build trust and support lasting peace.
- Commission contact
- Azerbaijan said the two countries’ commissions had been in direct contact since February 2025.
- DNA profiles
- Armenia provided profiles for 50 missing ethnic Armenians in January; Azerbaijan said none matched recovered remains.
- Azerbaijani list
- Azerbaijan shared a list of 834 citizens it believes were taken prisoner or hostage during the first Karabakh war.
- Detailed cases
- Azerbaijan provided detailed information on 104 people from that list.
- Missing Azerbaijanis
- Azerbaijan says 4,010 citizens remain missing from the conflicts, including 782 civilians.
- Peace agreement
- Initialled in Washington in August 2025, the US-brokered agreement includes provisions on missing persons.
- Agreement status
- The agreement has not yet been formally signed.