YEREVAN. – The Interpol General Secretariat has stated that international arrest warrants cannot be issued against a group of foreign and Armenian researchers carrying out archeological excavations in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Police of Armenia on Thursday released a respective statement.

Accordingly, the Police on Wednesday received a statement from the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) for Azerbaijan, and addressed to the Interpol member states, on issuing international arrest warrants for a group of foreign and Armenian researchers carrying out archeological excavations in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2016.

The warrants were issued based on the Azerbaijani Criminal Code’s articles on violation of international humanitarian norms during conflicts; violation of copyright or related rights; looting of items of special value; public calls against the state; and illegally crossing the state border of Azerbaijan.

Immediately after receiving this statement, the INTERPOL NCB for Armenia presented the necessary grounds and clarifications to the Interpol General Secretariat that the Azerbaijani side is once again attempting to drag Interpol into political issues, which contradicts the Interpol Charter’s Article 3 (Interpol is strictly not allowed to engage in activities, or interfere in political, military, religious and racial affairs), and it threatens the standing of Interpol.

In its turn, the Interpol General Secretariat found the Armenian law enforcement’s information to be grounded, and immediately responded and released statements on the same day to all Interpol member states, and notified that the information on the abovementioned individuals is contrary to the Interpol Charter, and therefore international arrest warrants cannot be issued against them.