Azerbaijan Opposes Inclusion of Prisoner Issue, Pashinyan Agrees: 'Haykakan Jamanak'

According to the newspaper 'Haykakan Jamanak', 'Nikol Pashinyan has refused to include the issue of Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijani jails in the peace agreement, thus fulfilling yet another humiliating demand from Aliyev. Sources revealed that the question of including a provision on prisoners in the contract was discussed, Azerbaijan opposed it, and Pashinyan agreed. Pashinyan justified leaving the issue of prisoners out of the only document being negotiated with Baku by claiming that raising the issue at the state level would provide Aliyev with a weapon to use in the negotiations. However, our source indicates that in reality, Pashinyan is simply freeing himself from an unnecessary headache.

At the same time, this step inadvertently substantiates Aliyev's claims that the military-political leaders of Artsakh are not prisoners of war, but rather terrorists being tried for serious crimes. We attempted to verify this information with governmental representatives. MP Hovik Aghazaryan confirmed the news. 'The Azerbaijani side does not recognize them as prisoners; they have given them a different status. They are accusing Araik Harutyunyan and Ruben Vardanyan of subverting the constitutional order. Therefore, if Azerbaijan were to agree to include the issue of prisoners in the peace agreement, it would have to answer to the international community. Aliyev would be asked, if they are prisoners, why haven’t you released them?' said the MP from the ruling party.

Aghazaryan believes that a bit of understanding is required, claiming that if the issue of prisoners were included in the negotiations, it would lead to a deadlock in the peace agenda. 'Would we then halt the signing process of the peace agreement, which is already difficult, for this reason?' rhetorically asked Aghazaryan. And who should care for the fates of these individuals if Armenia is washing its hands off and refusing to engage at the state level?

In response, the ruling party MP noted that relevant bodies are dealing with the prisoners, although he could not specify which bodies are involved. It is worth noting that 8 officials are illegally detained in Baku: former presidents of Artsakh Arkadi Gukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Araik Harutyunyan, NA president Davit Ishkhanian, former foreign minister Davit Babayan, former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army Levon Mnatsakanyan, former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, and former chief of the Armed Forces staff Davit Manukyan.