Armenian authorities have provided identification data for nearly 250 foreign mercenaries whom Azerbaijan deployed in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war to the CIS Counter-Terrorism Center, the Deputy Director of the Armenian National Security Service (NSS) Samvel Hayrapetyan revealed on Friday.

“Nearly 250 identification data were entered to their [CIS Counter-Terrorism Center] information resources in order to prevent [the mercenaries’] access to various countries in the future,” Hayrapetyan told parliament response to a question from Armen Gevorgyan, an Armenia Alliance lawmaker, during discussions on the ratification of the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, Armenpress reported.

Gevorgyan inquired from the deputy chief of the NSS whether or not the ratification would give new opportunities to condemn Azerbaijan’s deployment of mercenaries during the 2020 war and address the matter more broadly with international bodies.

Hayrapetyan explained that the matter could be problematic from the point of view of the international community, saying that Nagorno Karabakh could be targeted as a party participating in the ratification. However, he said that the NSS used international regulations to make the information accessible to different international bodies. The information on the foreign mercenaries was provided by the foreign ministry, while the NSS transferred the information to the CIS Counter-Terrorism Center.

Turkey recruited and sent foreign mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan against Armenia in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war.

Despite continuous denials by Ankara, the Armenian authorities have presented evidence proving the participation of Syrian mercenaries fighting alongside Azerbaijani soldiers.

The Russian foreign intelligence service had also gathered information on Sultan Murad mercenaries’ participation in the Karabakh war. President Emmanuel Macron of France also said that his intelligence agencies have information that Turkey was sending mercenaries to Azerbaijan to fight against Armenians in Artsakh.

In 2021, the Armenian authorities said that the investigation has revealed that Azerbaijan pre-planned the war in June 2020 and recruited more than 2,000 Syrian mercenaries and deployed them via Turkey. Azerbaijani authorities transferred payments to the Suleyman Shah and Sultan Murad terror groups.

Audio recordings of the Sultan Murad fighters in Artsakh were intercepted during the war. Armenian forces captured two Syrian mercenaries who were subsequently sentenced to life in prison.