The State Committee on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons of Azerbaijan announced that Azerbaijan is prepared to send Armenian citizens Karen Ghazaryan and Arayik Ghazaryan back to Armenia in exchange for Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, both of whom are accused of committing serious crimes in Artsakh.
The spokesperson of the President of Artsakh, Davit Babayan, told Aravot Daily that this is not the first time Baku has made such an offer. “But I am more than convinced that we need to take Azerbaijan’s policies more seriously. The appropriate steps need to be taken because that country’s policies are becoming more dangerous,” Davit Babayan noted.
He noted, “First, this offer made by Baku is absurd and is another example of legal, political, and moral “terrorism.” You cannot exchange terrorists and criminals for normal people. I understand that this is difficult to comprehend from a psychological perspective. But Azerbaijan must return our citizens regardless. They have not presented any danger to Azerbaijan, unlike Askerov and Guliyev, who are terrorists and murderers. Their crime was uncovered and it was proven during a transparent and public trial in the presence of international observers, media outlets, and activists.”
According to Davit Babayan, the fact that Azerbaijan made these offers on September 11th, which is the anniversary of terrorist attacks in the United States, is worrisome. “They made that announcement on September 11th to make fun of the international community. The offer to exchange terrorists for normal people on September 11th was done deliberately. On the other hand, it is not unlikely that Azerbaijan will take horrible steps in the near future, which may include kidnapping Armenians, including social and political figures, scientists, and children, and then blackmail us by saying that they will only return those people in exchange for the two terrorists. This is where the problem lies. Steps need to be taken and we need to take this seriously. Anything is possible from Azerbaijan.”
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Luiza Sukiasyan
