YEREVAN. – In Strasbourg, I had a 40-minute conversation with the head of the Azerbaijani delegation, Samad Seyidov; the issue of [Armenian] prisoners of war was discussed. And to all my arguments that the Armenians in Azerbaijan are prisoners of war and that Baku violates international law, the Third Geneva Convention on prisoners of war, that Azerbaijan has in fact “spat” on the trilateral statement of November 9 of last year, Seyidov was responding that there were no prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the outgoing Armenian parliament and of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), told this to a press conference on Tuesday.
According to her, the aforementioned head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE had started claiming that the Armenians currently in Baku are "terrorists" because they allegedly committed "terrorist acts" in the territory of Azerbaijan. "He was making a delusion, and suddenly stated that we had deceived them. In his words, the maps handed over to them on the 97 thousand [land] mines in the Aghdam region correspond to reality by only 50 percent, whereas the rest is fake," Zohrabyan added.
However, as the Armenian outgoing MP noted, Seyidov said that Baku, as a gesture of goodwill, is ready to discuss the possible return of Armenian captives, but only if the Armenian authorities sign an agreement and recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, which will include 75 percent of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) territories that were occupied during the 44-day war last fall. "Until Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, we must forget about the prisoners of war," said Naira Zohrabyan, quoting the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE. Moreover, she drew attention to the fact that the Armenian side does not have any Azerbaijani prisoners of war.
In connection with the abovementioned, the Armenian politician called on the Europeans to impose sanctions on the family members of the President of Azerbaijan; in particular, on their bank accounts.
