Son of the Slain Guard of ZPMC on the Release of the Azerbaijani Who Killed His Father in Exchange for Armenian Prisoners

I learned that the Azerbaijani who killed my father and the Azerbaijani soldier who came to Armenia with him are being sent back to Azerbaijan in exchange for 32 Armenian captives, but this decision is not acceptable to me. In other words, if this incident had not occurred, would the Azerbaijani have entered Armenia and killed my father, and would the 32 prisoners not have been returned?

This was stated today by Jorge Meliksetyan, the son of Hayrapet Meliksetyan, a guard of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine who was murdered, in an interview with MediaHub. “This is unacceptable to me, even though we anticipated it; how do we reconcile with such thoughts? If they hadn’t come, hadn’t killed, and hadn’t casually caught us, all our boys would have to remain there until we waited for some Turk to kill someone, and only after that would an exchange take place. I do not understand the logic behind this. The worst part is that we cannot change anything; our government has not sided with us but rather with the Turkish side,” he said.

Jorge Meliksetyan pointed out his keen interest in whether the Azerbaijanis are already in Baku or not. Recall that on April 10, two Azerbaijani soldiers crossed the state border of Armenia. One of them, Agshin Gabili Babirov, was found in the community of Ashotavan in the Syunik province, where he stated that he had escaped with his friend from their military comrades. The second Azerbaijani, Huseyn Ahlimani Akhundov, was discovered later; three days later, villagers in the community of Ajravan in the Syunik province noticed someone suspicious and approached him, discovering he was Azerbaijani. After finding Akhundov, a version emerged suggesting that he had killed the guard of ZPMC because Hayrapet's phone was found with him.

Two days ago, Jorge Meliksetyan reported that the court had satisfied his request, meaning that Akhundov, who killed his father, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. However, this was strange to him because the decision was made too early. Additionally, it was revealed yesterday that Azerbaijan is returning 32 Armenian prisoners in exchange for two Azerbaijanis.