The Issue of Armenians Held in Captivity in Baku Included in the Agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The issue of Armenian prisoners of war and others held in captivity in Baku has been included in the agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Some rushed to disseminate information suggesting that the countries which voted against discussing the issue of Armenian captives are Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. It goes without saying what erroneous conclusions such misinformation can lead to.

The truth is that the voting on the agenda was packaged. The Russian delegation voted against because the issue of Alexei Navalny was included in the discussion. The Turkish delegates voted against as the agenda included the issue of the functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey. Accordingly, only Azerbaijan and possibly Turkey voted against discussing the issue of Armenian captives. We await substantive deliberation on this critical issue and will not allow for misinterpretation of the events and facts. This was reported by Nikolay Petrosyan.

It should be recalled that MP Arman Babajanyan wrote on his Facebook page: 'It is notable that, in addition to the Turks and Azerbaijanis, several members of the Russian delegation from the strategic ally of Armenia in the PACE also voted against including the issues of Armenian prisoners and displaced persons in the agenda of the PACE plenary session. Several Serbs also voted against. The remaining members of the Russian delegation abstained from voting. And this is while the implementation of the points of the trilateral declaration dated November 9, including the eighth point concerning the return of captives, is fundamentally a matter of Russia's international credibility. P.S. I leave the conclusions to those who have entrusted Armenia's security to Russia.'