ArmInfo.Baku reacted to the statements of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan about the prisoners of war.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that they consider the accusations voiced by Pashinyan during his visit to the Netherlands "unfounded and calling into question the sincerity of Yerevan in the issue of normalizing relations with Baku and achieving peace in the region."
"The baseless accusations made by the Prime Minister of Armenia against Azerbaijan, including far from reality claims on humanitarian issues, show that the Armenian leadership is not at all sincere in the issue of normalizing relations between the two countries. Providing maps of minefields by Armenia is not a "humanitarian gesture", it is was Yerevan's commitment in the framework of the tripartite statement dated November 10, 2020. After the signing of this document, 219 people became victims of mines in Azerbaijan, and these are mostly civilians, said Abdullayeva. As for the accusations of not returning the detained Armenians, Baku considers them saboteurs, sent to the territory of Azerbaijan after the end of the war. Unfounded accusations against Azerbaijan cast doubt on Armenia's readiness to act in the name of peace," said Leyla Abdullayeva, spokeswoman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
Thus, from the logic of Abdullayeva, it turns out that only Yerevan has obligations under the agreement, and they are not obligatory for Baku. It is also worth noting that in the tripartite statement there is not a word about the transfer of maps of minefields, however, paragraph 8 of the statement of November 9, 2020 states the need for an exchange of prisoners of war and detainees on the principle of "all for all".
It should be noted that on May 11 in the Netherlands, Pashinyan touched upon the issue of the return of Armenian prisoners held by Baku. He expressed regret that, despite the statement of November 9, 2020, in response to the calls of many international organizations, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, taken prisoner during the 44-day war, have not yet been returned. "This is the practice of using people for political purposes and turning them into an object of trade, which is very reprehensible," Nikol Pashinyan said, stressing that it was in order to avoid such bargaining that he once decided to transfer to Azerbaijan all the maps of minefields at his disposal. The Armenian side hoped that this humanitarian step would be followed by another humanitarian step. "Nevertheless, today at least 38 of our prisoners of war remain in Azerbaijan (according to unofficial data, there are many more – ed. note). Attempts are constantly being made to make this process the subject of bidding on a variety of topics. By the way, for the last time in the presence of the President of the European Council, the President of Azerbaijan promised to release another group of prisoners, but this has not happened yet. I think it is impossible to talk about peace, ignoring the humanitarian side of the issue, we have shown this in practice," Nikol Pashinyan said.