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State of Azerbaijani captives discussed with ICRC

4 August 2016 16:00 (UTC+04:00)
State of Azerbaijani captives discussed with ICRC

By Rashid Shirinov

The fate of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, two Azerbaijanis for over two years being kept hostages by Armenian forces, was in the focus of the recent meeting between Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, Ali Hasanov and Elena Aymone Sessera, head of the Azerbaijani delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Hasanov received Sessera on August 3 at her own request. Both sides exchanged opinions on the current state of Asgarov and Guliyev, who were taken hostage by the Armenian armed forces while visiting their native places and graves of loved ones in the occupied Azerbaijani Kalbajar region. Following that, the so-ccaled "Nagorno-Karabakh court" sentenced the two Azerbaijani citizens.

Azerbaijan in the face of the State Committee on Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and other agencies by providing necessary documents has repeatedly urged international organizations, including the ICRC, to assist in release of Guliyev and Asgarov. Nevertheless, they are still kept captive by Armenian forces.

During the meeting, Hasanov stressed that since the first day of the incident the issue remains under constant control of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. “On the instruction of the head of state, I discussed the release of two Azerbaijanis with the ICRC President during my visit to Geneva. I asked him to arrange assistance for direct connection of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev with their families through capabilities of modern communications. He promised to do, but there is no result yet,” Deputy Premier said.

Hasanov then hailed the organization`s humanitarian programs for refugees and IDPs expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh. He lauded Sessera`s efforts towards meeting needs of the civil population. Hasanov noted the “important” work carried out by the ICRC in Azerbaijan in war situation.

For her part, Sessera noted that when she started her activities in Azerbaijan, the representative office of ICRC worked very hard in connection with the April clashes that occurred on the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Armed Forces.

“Development of Azerbaijan is apparent,” she said. Sessera expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani government for supporting the ICRC mission in the country.

The head of the ICRC Delegation in Azerbaijan told about the organization`s projects aimed at providing agricultural support and financial grants for people who live in frontline zones and whose farms were damaged or destroyed during the April provocation of the Armenian armed forces, conducting first aid trainings in the conflict zone and organizing leisure activities for children suffering from the shock of war.

Armenian forces killed an Azerbaijani citizen, Hasan Hasanov, and detained Guliyev and Asgarov while they were attempting to visit the graves of their relatives in July 2014. Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of a separatist regime in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Following an expedited “judicial process" in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years.

“Do not worry, I am fine. Here in prison they give us water and bread. Say hello to everybody… I am alive yet,” Dilgam Asgarov writes in his letter from the Armenian prison to his family.

“He went to visit the village where he was born, to see the grave of his mother. Now Armenians say he “violated” the border. Armenians occupied my home, my lands, turned over one million people into refugees and IDPs in their native lands. They don’t regard their actions as crime, but say that Dilgam committed a crime by visiting his motherland,” his wife said in her interview to local media.

Azerbaijan, whose over 4,000 citizens were taken captive, hostage, or went missing as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, has repeatedly declared its readiness to begin negotiations with Armenia.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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