Saturday June 12th 2021
After the Nagorno-Karabakh war
Azerbaijan surrenders 15 prisoners of war
Azerbaijan returns 15 prisoners of war to Armenia. In return, they receive a map with mines that Armenian soldiers laid in an occupied town. The handover comes at the right time, because the Armenian President is to be confirmed in office on Sunday.
A week before the early parliamentary elections in Armenia, Azerbaijan handed over 15 prisoners of war to the neighboring country. They were released at the border with the participation of representatives from Georgia, said the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in the capital Baku. In return, Armenia presented a map of mines that had been laid in a place previously occupied by Armenian soldiers.
More than six months after the end of the fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region, Armenia has repeatedly accused neighboring Azerbaijan of not having released all prisoners of war despite several exchanges. Azerbaijan said it had fulfilled its commitments. However, the agreement does not cover those soldiers who Armenia “sent to areas of Azerbaijan” after the end of the fighting, it said in Baku.
In the war between September 27 and November 9, 2020 for Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan reclaimed large parts of the territory it had lost in the early 1990s. More than 6,000 people died in the fighting. The war had triggered a political crisis in Armenia. The head of government Nikol Pashinyan, who has come under pressure, wants to be confirmed in office on Sunday next week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed both the release of the prisoners of war and the provision of information for clearing the mines in a message. “We continue to demand the return of all prisoners and are ready to support the countries in the government in their efforts to continue cooperation and solve unresolved problems,” added Blinken. The US chief diplomat also called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to re-enter into negotiations with one another in order to negotiate a “comprehensive political solution to the conflict”.
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