Ruben Rubinyan's View on Alen Simonyan's Statements and Resignation Discussions

The issue of prisoners of war is very sensitive and multifaceted. We must do everything to ensure that those illegally held in Azerbaijan and in violation of the November 9 statement are returned to Armenia immediately; this is not subject to discussion. This was stated by Ruben Rubinyan, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, in response to the controversial video featuring National Assembly President Alen Simonyan and the opinions expressed regarding prisoners of war.

“The circumstances surrounding the captivity of prisoners of war must always be clarified – why this happened. My personal opinion is that the issue of prisoners of war should be touched upon as little as possible in the public domain because Azerbaijan is trying to use our prisoners of war as hostages and leverage against us. Any discussion we have aids that. We do not want, on one hand, soldiers who have become prisoners to feel diminished, while on the other hand, we want our public and service members to understand that being taken prisoner is not a good thing,” he said.

Referring to the proposed meeting organized by the “Armenia” parliamentary faction with the relatives of prisoners of war and representatives of relevant agencies, Rubinyan stated, “Several meetings have been organized with the relatives of prisoners at the highest levels, and the opposition's mediation is not needed in this matter.”

When asked if the question of Alen Simonyan's resignation has been discussed in the context of these discussions and criticisms, Rubinyan replied, “We have not discussed that topic, but let me clarify. The published video does not represent Alen Simonyan's statement in the sense that he has not officially stood anywhere and made a statement; it is a covert recording from a private conversation. I reiterate, this is a very sensitive topic; prisoners of war should neither be glorified nor diminished. We need to foster a public discourse so that our service members are not inclined to surrender without a fight and also work to ensure that the dignity of returning prisoners of war is not diminished. In the complete video I saw, Alen Simonyan essentially says what I have just said. Now, what I stated could have been formulated in a way that sounded scandalous,” he remarked.

In response to the question of whether such statements complicate the process of returning prisoners of war in international forums, Rubinyan stated, “The position of the Republic of Armenia regarding prisoners of war is more than legitimate and derives from international law. Any statement, right or wrong, cannot affect that. The fact is that Azerbaijan is obliged to return all our prisoners of war.”