The UK company HALO Trust, which is engaged in demining in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), has denied the news of its handing of minefield maps of Artsakh to the Turkish special services.

“The HALO Trust is aware of a claim that it handed minefield maps to Turkish forces before or during the 2020 conflict over Karabakh. There is absolutely no truth to this claim. For over 20 years HALO has worked in Karabakh to make the local people safe. The HALO Trust is only able to operate in conflict zones around the world because it is a totally non-political and neutral organisation. The claim is totally false,” reads the HALO Trust’s respective statement on Facebook.

I have learned from reliable sources that while working in Artsakh, the HALO Trust company, which operated under the name of a British charitable organization and was engaged in clearing landmines, obtained maps of the minefields of the Armenian side and handed them over to the Turkish special services. As reported earlier, the Artsakh President’s representative-at-large, Boris Avagyan, told this to 24News.

"Because of this, the adversary was able to successfully pass through the minefields during the [recent Artsakh] war. Under the name of studying dangerous areas, this company has carried out reconnaissance operations in the whole territory of Artsakh," Avagyan added in particular.