In the historical center of Gyumri, on Ryzhkov Avenue and the Shiraz and Rustaveli streets, the representatives of the Republic party held a campaign, talking to the people of Gyumri, marching, and distributing their booklets. As the leader of the Republic party Aram Sargsyan clarified in a conversation with Aravot Daily, Artak Zeynalyan himself had visited all the Western diplomatic centers in Armenia regarding the captives taken after the war.
“We also went to the UK embassy. The new ambassador had not come yet; it was still the envoy. We presented them the list of our POWs. We told them that we know they are allies with Turkey and Azerbaijan, and they have made great investments there. In many cases, solving humanitarian problems in a humanitarian way through the urging of allies is much faster and easier. And we asked them to use those levers themselves because this is a humanitarian problem. And we must say that we are satisfied with that work. To my surprise, they worked very well; the most recent group of 15 POWs was entirely the work of the United States and the Department of State.”
Upon the observation that there was a lot of criticism regarding how we should have received a larger number of POWs in exchange for Aghdam’s minefield maps, Aram Sargsyan said, “You know, Azerbaijan is carrying out this issue with clear trade. If it agrees to return 15 POWs to the US, it receives something from the US. We must try to work with trade. Unfortunately, our authorities are only trading with Russia, and Russia is not doing anything with that trade. Theoretically, according to the tripartite document, the main arbiter, the judge should have been Russia; this issue should have been taken out of circulation. But at the end of any of its statements, Russia mentions the issue of transit roads, which is the 9th point of the given document; there is an impression that it is only interested in that. It does not say a word about the captives.
Moreover, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov did not say anything in Ilham Aliyev’s presence when Aliyev stated that they had returned all the POWs and they do not have any more. In this case, we believe that working with the Russians on this issue is absurd. And in my opinion, Zeynalyan and his colleagues have carried out more important and serious work than anything done with the Russians because, when they were identifying with the POWs’ relatives and drafting those documents, they were sending them to the European Court. When the ECHR files a case, Azerbaijan naturally sends POWs the next day because it knows it will lose the case, because, in accordance with the Geneva Convention, all POWs must be returned. If Azerbaijan loses, it will not bring honor to them, and they must compensate us,” Aram Sargsyan said. According to Aram Sargsyan, Artak Zeynalyan believes that all POWs will return; it is just a matter of time.
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Aram Sargsyan reported that they presented the information about POWs being tried in Baku to the ambassador’s political deputy at the US Embassy, as well as the UK and French embassies. “France is an allied nation, and it is working day and night on this issue. We cannot say anything besides ‘thank you.’ The United States solved the issue of the last 15 POWs. I believe that the UK will resolve the issue of the next 10-15 POWs because it is working now. The entire issue will finally be resolved by France. I do not know what Muradov or Russia are doing,” Aram Sargsyan said.
Nune Arevshatyan
