I am convinced that we should not have any contact without resolving the issue of captives; that should be a precondition for taking all the other steps. The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, said this in an interview with three media outlets on Wednesday, referring to the issue of POWs.
"Now, what does ‘state secret’ mean? Another question arises: from whom, could Azerbaijan not know how many [Armenian] captives it has? (…). It is a matter of principle; they must be returned (…).
Why does Azerbaijan not give to the captives? It wants to stop the replenishment of the Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] army. (…). I am convinced that [Azerbaijani president Ilham] Aliyev is under constant pressure over the captives’ issue. He keeps [them] for a very specific purpose; he keeps that tool to destroy the fragments of the Artsakh state system. After handing over the captives, they will take [captives] again, until they receive an assurance from here that they will not send any military from Armenia to Artsakh; the price will be that, and our government will go for it," Kocharyan added.
