The issue of transferring prisoners of war has been resolved and closed. Azerbaijan has handed over all prisoners of war to Armenia. The statement came from Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov at a press conference after meeting with Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Bin Ahmad Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Othaimeen.
“We have shown how responsible we are for this issue. We have transferred more than 70 prisoners of war to Armenia,” he said.
According to him, in accordance with the trilateral statement of 9 November last year, all the prisoners of war taken during the hostilities were handed over to the Armenian side.
“In order for the military to be considered prisoners of war, they must be detained during hostilities. Those who were later arrested as a result of the anti-terrorist operation can be called terrorists, but not prisoners of war,” Bayramov added.
Notably: On 27 September, the Azerbaijani side launched hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, occupying most of it, including the city of Shushi.
On 9 November, Russian President Vladimir Putin, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint statement on the cessation of hostilities that started on 27 September.
The trilateral statement states in particular that Kelbajar will be returned to Azerbaijan by 15 November (later that period was extended by 10 days), Aghdam region by 20 November, and Lachin region by 1 December, leaving a corridor of 5 km wide, which will ensure Armenia’s connection, but will not touch Shushi.
In addition, along with the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor, Russian peacekeeping forces of 1960 troops with firearms, 90 armored vehicles and 380 vehicles and special equipment are deployed. The peacekeepers remain for five years with the possibility of automatic extension, unless the parties announce the termination of this provision six months before the expiration of the next five years.
It is also mentioned that internally displaced persons and refugees are returning to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, exchanging prisoners of war and exchanging other detainees, and unblocking all economic and transport ties in the region is carried out.
