Azerbaijan says has “no obligation” to release Armenian PoWs

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan has declared it has no obligations to release Armenian prisoners of war currently jailed in Baku.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizade said in a statement on Tuesday, September 10 that the call by Armenian officials to sign the draft peace agreement with the removal of the uncoordinated provisions is “unacceptable” for Azerbaijan, Minval.az reports.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan repeated on his proposal to sign an interim peace deal with Azerbaijan one day after it was again rejected by Baku.

Speaking at an international conference in Yerevan, Pashinyan again said Baku and Yerevan fully agree on the preamble and 13 of the 16 articles of a draft peace treaty discussed by them.

“We propose to take what is agreed upon at the moment, sign it, have a basic document, and then continue discussions on the remaining issues,” he said, according to RFE/RL’s Armenian service reports.

Pashinyan first publicly floated the idea during an August 31 news conference held hours after the Armenian Foreign Ministry formally communicated fresh peace proposals to the Azerbaijani side. The latter was quick to reject it, with Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov saying that the framework deal proposed by Yerevan lacks several “important provisions.”