11:22,

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. Edmon Marukyan, who is leading the Bright Armenia party’s electoral list for the June 20 snap polls, welcomes the return of 15 Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan on June 12.

“Azerbaijan continues holding the Armenian prisoners of war, putting different preconditions for their return. It’s an act of a terrorist country as terrorists take hostages and put preconditions by holding them”, Marukyan told reporters on the sidelines of the party’s pre-election campaign.

He said the solution of the POW issue is within the international law, stating that the Armenian side needs to make a very serious emphasis here. According to him, in case of strengthening Armenia’s external diplomatic front, the POWs can be returned.

“Now there is a difficult situation. You know that the officials of the foreign ministry have resigned. I think that after the elections if the agenda, which we are presenting, is fulfilled, this issue can be solved very quickly. In other words, the issue of the prisoners of war can be solved very quickly if we solve our problems inside the country and strengthen in the external front. The return of POWs should not be speculated in our domestic political life in any way. Perhaps everything can be speculated, but not this one relating to the person’s release from captivity”, he added.

The electoral campaign for the June 20 snap parliamentary elections officially launched in Armenia on June 7.

The campaign will last until June 18.

25 political forces – 21 parties and 4 blocs, are participating in the elections.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan