YEREVAN. - The Armenian Commission on Prisoners of War [(POWs)], Captives and Missing People, categorically dismisses the groundless accusations of the Azerbaijani side representative to the Armenian authorities on hiding information.

“The activity of the Armenian Commission for POWs, Captives and Missing People is transparent. This can be confirmed by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and various media outlets. It has always been aimed at clarifying the fates of the missing compatriots and deciding issues related to the humanitarian problems, something which, unfortunately, cannot be said about the Azerbaijani State Commission, whose activity  seems to be aimed at a cheap political PR, misinformation and attempts to blacken the Armenian side,”  Head of the Commission working group, Armen Kaprielyan, stated upon the request of  Armenian News – NEWS.am correspondent, commenting on the statements of the Head of Azerbaijani State Commission on PoWs, Captives and Missing People Ismayil Akhundov.

“I advise the part of the community, which still doubts the proper conduct of the Armenian side in this field, to turn to competent international organizations, who, I am sure, dispose of all the necessary information on the issues of concern.

I have to once again officially state that Armenia has no PoWs and captives from among the Azerbaijani civilian population.

Taking advantage of the situation and based on my own experience of work, I would like to tell my so-called “colleague” the following: Firstly, let them finally determine the number of the missing persons of the Azerbaijani Republic, since in different years and on different occasions the Azerbaijani officials mentioned absolutely different figures. Secondly, let them stop dealing with strictly political propaganda and try to direct at least part of their forces to the consideration of the problems for which purpose the State Commission has actually been set up.  Besides, apart from constant mediatory statements, it would be none the worse to try to establish contact with the Armenian side, something that we are trying to achieve during the recent five-six years. However, oddly enough, in light of the statements of the Azerbaijani Commission representative, the Azerbaijani side categorically refuses to discuss the work issues directly with the Armenian side,” the head of the Working Group said.

According to APA, the Azerbaijani State Commission representative made subsequent accusations against the Armenian side at Milli Majlis.