A few days ago, former Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanyan called for the suspension of negotiations with Baku until the prisoners are released. During the Parliament-Government question-and-answer session, Civil Contract faction MP Tatevik Gasparyan asked Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to comment on the statement.
“On our part, I can say that the Republic of Armenia is strongly and sincerely interested in continuing the peace negotiations, in normalizing relations with Azerbaijan, and we will make our constructive efforts so that this peace becomes a reality as soon as possible, and all the existing problems are resolved, including the issue of the release of prisoners of war and detainees, which is one of our priorities and is on our agenda,” the Foreign Minister noted.
Referring to the question of what is being done in that direction, he said: “I want to list a few things that are fresh in a week, or better, 10 days. Has the Foreign Ministry made a statement about this? It did. In Geneva, at the Human Rights Council, the UN Human Rights Council, which is one of the most respected and relevant structures on this issue, I had a public speech where I devoted a huge part to the topic of prisoners and the topic of mock trials, and the topic of the rights of prisoners being violated in these trials, torture, and illegal interference. I met with the head of the ICRC. I met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, one of the most important links in this area of this issue in international relations. Days after our meeting, the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement calling on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release all detained Armenians. These are the visible things that have been reported in the press.”
