During a press briefing in parliament, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the issue of Armenian prisoners held in Baku, stating that the government is engaged in daily efforts to secure their return, 1lurer.am reports.
He said that peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan will help resolve this and many other issues.
“If some believe the prisoner issue must be solved first before achieving peace, I say the more favorable the environment between Armenia and Azerbaijan becomes, the easier it will be to resolve this matter. It’s a matter of perspective,” Pashinyan said.
“I believe peace will resolve the rest of the issues as well; it will solve many of them. The perception that we must solve all disputes before peace is achieved is, I believe, flawed. Peace is a process, a dynamic one. It’s not accurate to say ‘we must do this or that,’ because if we had followed that logic, we wouldn’t have reached this point,” he added.
According to the prime minister, Armenia is committed to maintaining a flexible approach that best serves the country’s national interests at every stage of the peace process.
Following the nine-month blockade and ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, Azerbaijan captured several former officials, including ex-presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan, as well as former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan and Foreign Minister Davit Babayan. The charges brought against them are widely seen as politically motivated and could result in life sentences. A controversial trial against them began in Baku on January 17.
