National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan stated that efforts will not cease “until the last Armenian returns to Armenia,” adding that “everyone will return.”

He declined to comment on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that he does not intend to release former military-political leaders of Artsakh, noting that he had not yet familiarized himself with the remarks, Sputnik Armenia reports.

“The process, the work and the approach we are implementing jointly with Azerbaijan are complex and difficult, but they create an opportunity to move forward, and we must not abandon that. They will return — everyone will return. Not today, not tomorrow, but everyone will return. At one point there were nearly 200 people, and there were also individuals considered unlikely to return, but through our work we managed to achieve results. That work will not stop until the last Armenian returns to Armenia,” he said.

Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan also commented on the Azerbaijani president’s statement, saying that the Armenian side will continue efforts toward securing their release, according to Pastinfo.

“We continue to work to free all detainees, and we will continue that work. We have worked in all possible formats so far and will keep working,” Grigoryan said.

He noted that the issue of detainees is raised not only during official meetings but also through various other formats.

Earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, responding to questions from France 24 in Munich, rejected the possibility of granting pardons to former Artsakh leaders.

He confirmed that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance raised the issue of Armenian detainees during a visit to Baku, adding that he outlined Baku’s position on the matter and the discussion ended there.