YEREVAN, APRIL 6. ARMINFO. An Armenian serviceman, 20, was captured by the Azeri side in Noyemberyan district (Armenia) Apr 1, says the international task group for missings, hostages and POWs in the Karabakh conflict zone.
The group hopes that the Azeri side will be constructive in the matter and will return the serviceman immediately after inspection in compliance with the agreements signed in Tbilisi Mar 18. The group says that it has warned the Nagorno Karabakh Republic authorities that groundless delays in returning POWs might provoke counter-action from the opposite side. “We regret to have proved to be right and are urging again the NKR authorities to give back Hayal Abdulaev, Hiqmet Tagiev and Ruslan Bakirov to ICRC,” says the group noting that it sees no grounds for holding the Azeri soldiers for so long and that this situation is preventing contacts by those responsible for liberating POWs and finding missing people in the conflict zone. As a public structure the group has no right to demand reporting from the Armenian and Azeri sides but the latter have trusted the group so far. The co-chair of the group Bernhard Klasen has repeatedly inquired Arkady Ghoukassyan and other NKR top officials about the Azeri POWs and received assurances of early release.
“The Mar 18 Tbilisi meeting of the Armenian and Azeri state committees for POWs and MIAs has determined ways of further cooperation at a new level. We hoped that NKR experts will shortly join in and get into touch with their Azeri counterparts,” says the group noting that the more time passes before the Azeri POWs are released the smaller the mutual confidence is. Counter-actions will not only complicate the general situation but will also harm those who are captured and may be captured in the future. The group is ready to mediate the return of the POWs to facilitate further contacts between the sides.
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