Kavkazskiy Uzel, Moscow,
10 Feb 2007
Mailyan: There are no prisoners of war or hostages in Nagornyy
Karabakh
9 February: Leo Platvoet, rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe [PACE] on missing persons in the South
Caucasus, has prepared a report that was submitted to the foreign
ministry of Nagornyy Karabakh. A journalist from the Caucasian Centre
has asked the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh republic] deputy foreign
minister, Masis Mailyan, to comment on this.
"Unfortunately, the PACE rapporteur included in his report unverified
information that he received in Baku. The Karabakh side has
repeatedly pointed out the fact that Azerbaijani data on missing
persons fails to represent the true situation. Through multiplying
this figure several times, the Azerbaijani authorities try to conceal
the true size of losses they suffered during the active military
operations. Moreover, the probability is high that a section of those
people whose names are put on the Azerbaijani missing lists have left
Azerbaijan during the war and now live in Russia or in other states.
"According to information provided by the International Committee of
the Red Cross [ICRC] for 1997, the total number of missing persons
within the Karabakh conflict zone, including both Armenians and
Azerbaijanis, was 2,229. If we take into consideration the fact that
the ICRC gathered the data during three years after the cease-fire,
it is not probable that they have changed very much since then,"
Masis Mailyan said.
"At the same time, it should be mentioned that the recommendations’
part of the report by Platvoet contains a number of provisions that
were insisted upon by the Karabakh side, namely, avoiding
politicization of the problem of missing persons as well as stressing
the need to establish contacts between the relevant government
commissions of Azerbaijan and Nagornyy Karabakh to ensure successful
cooperation in this sphere.
"As far back as in 1995, the Nagornyy Karabakh authorities handed
over to Azerbaijan all prisoners of war and hostages captured during
the military operations. After conclusion of a truce, there were some
cases when Azerbaijani soldiers were captured trying to cross the
contact line. In such cases, the NKR authorities, following their
international commitments within the framework of respective Geneva
Conventions, immediately report to the Stepanakert [Xankandi] offices
of the ICRC and the OSCE.
"After this, the prisoners are transferred to Azerbaijan with the
ICRC mediation and pursuant to the established procedure. As a member
of the NKR national commission on prisoners of war and missing
persons, I can claim that at present, there are no prisoners or
hostages on our republic’s territory.
"As to the fact of more frequent instances of capture of Azerbaijani
soldiers, there may be different causes. According to estimates made
by Azerbaijani military experts, such causes mainly include bullying
in the Azerbaijani armed detachments located along the contact line,
corruption among officers as well as low morals and spirituality and
the lack of professionalism of Azerbaijani soldiers," the NKR deputy
foreign minister added.