Our Soldiers Were Abducted from Sovereign Armenian Territory during the Last Military Clash: Baku's Tyrant Should Also Be Held Accountable in International Courts – Karen Hovhannisyan

Turkologist Karen Hovhannisyan wrote on his Facebook page: “I am speaking about the captives for the last time, and I kindly ask journalists not to ask me this question anymore. When discussing captives, it is essential to understand and know whether that soldier was abducted, taken prisoner during a military operation, which is considered a prisoner of war, or simply surrendered, which is classified as captivity.

After clarifying this, we need to ascertain whether there were shelters, trenches, and other positional engineering structures available for the soldiers equipped with cameras, night-vision devices, etc., or if they were simply told to stand in an open field, at the foot or top of a mountain with something that identifies the border. Overall, the topic of captives is very sensitive. Most parents say they would rather their child be a captive but alive, while some express disbelief that their child could be a captive and assume harm will come to them to avoid captivity. This means even the relatives have different perceptions regarding this phenomenon, so it would be better to bypass this topic altogether.

Specifically, during the last military clash, our soldiers were abducted from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Our boys did not find themselves in areas that they control, which they refer to as Azerbaijan, but rather were located in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. The tyrant of Baku should also be held accountable in international courts for giving the order to abduct citizens of Armenia from Armenian territory…”