Despite the urging of a senior US State Department official, Azerbaijan continues to refuse to return Armenians taken prisoner during the last war in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated in an article published in the Washington Post by renowned journalist David Ignatius.
“US officials say that despite an earlier exchange of prisoners, 52 Armenians are still being held by Azerbaijan,” Ignatius noted. He emphasized that Baku insists they are not participants in the war, but arrived there after the ceasefire, at the end of November, and are suspected of being terrorists — an accusation that Armenia denies.
“US Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Philip Reeker raised the issue of the prisoners during a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in February, demanding that the International Committee of the Red Cross be allowed to visit the detainees. The ICRC was granted permission immediately,” the author wrote.
David Ignatius noted that US officials also consistently issued calls for the release of the captives in the following weeks. The journalist quoted one of the senior officials of the Biden administration, who said: “We hope to see a larger number of detainees released. We are not negotiating, but we are urging them to show good will.”
Ignatius recalled that US congressmen have also joined the calls to release the Armenian prisoners of war.
The author noted that the issue of Armenian prisoners will take on new emotional significance at the end of April, in connection with the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He recalled that recently, prominent international commentator Ian Bremmer, citing his sources in the White House, had said that Biden would recognize the Armenian Genocide on April 24.
The journalist concluded that this year’s commemoration and remembrance events will be particularly sensitive in the wake of Armenia’s defeat in the Karabakh war and the suffering that followed.
