I Spoke About the Immediate Return of Prisoners of War at the ECHR Migration and Displaced Persons Session: Zohrabyan

At the ECHR migration and displaced persons session, I spoke about the immediate return of prisoners of war. This was stated by NA deputy from the Prosperous Armenia faction, Naira Zohrabyan.

She specifically noted, “Today at the ECHR committee on migration, refugees, and displaced persons, the issue of the humanitarian crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan was discussed, which will soon become an ECHR report. The author of the report will be working in Armenia and Azerbaijan and, at our suggestion, will also try to visit Artsakh.

Of course, during the discussion, the Azerbaijani representative emphasized several times that the reporter must obtain permission from the Azerbaijani authorities to visit Artsakh. And since the report will exclusively concern the humanitarian aspects of the war, I raised two important issues which I consider urgent problems that require resolution.

The first is, of course, the issue of prisoners of war, who should have been returned to the Armenian side immediately after the end of the war, which has not yet been done. I drew the reporter's attention to the fact that Azerbaijan not only refuses to return Armenian prisoners of war and civilians who have fallen into captivity but also labels them as diversants, which is a gross violation of all international regulations.

The second issue I addressed is the situation of the displaced individuals from Artsakh who lost their homes and communities, which is also one of the disastrous humanitarian consequences of this war, and must necessarily be at the center of international attention.

And, naturally, since the 'best traditions' of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem continue, the delegations from Azerbaijan and Turkey once again attempted to distort the nature and content of the war they unleashed, trying to present it as a continuation of the genocide started by Armenians in the 1990s. In my speech, I pointed out the utter foolishness of such statements, insisting that Turkey and Azerbaijan are war criminals and must be held accountable under international law.”