Armenia delivers Azerbaijani prisoner of war to third country
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani prisoner of war in the Armenian captivity has been departed to the third country.
On August 30, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was informed by the Armenian authorities that the Azerbaijani prisoner of war had been released and had departed Armenia for a third country under the auspices of another international organization.
Earlier, on August 26, delegates of the ICRC visited an Azerbaijani prisoner of war interned in Armenia since July 2012, the organization said.
According to the head of the ICRC delegation in Yerevan Lorenzo Caraffi, during this visit, the ninth since the prisoner of war was interned, messages containing news of a strictly personal nature between him and his family were delivered and collected.
"In addition, the question of whether he freely consented to be repatriated or resettled in a third country was confidentially discussed with him during the visit," Caraffi said.
Firuz Farajov, a soldier of the Azerbaijani armed forces born in 1992, got lost on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops near Azerbaijan's Tovuz region on July 26, 2012 and was captured by Armenian armed units.
Besides, ICRC delegates also visited on August 20, an Armenian prisoner of war interned in Azerbaijan since August 8. On that occasion, they gave him the opportunity to exchange messages with his family. The visit was conducted in accordance with the ICRC's standard working procedures.
"Meanwhile, the ICRC is pursuing its dialogue on all issues relating to the capture and internment of the Armenian soldier directly and confidentially with the authorities concerned," head of the ICRC delegation in Baku Denise Duran said.
The ICRC has been visiting prisoners of war and civilians interned in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1992. The aim of the visits is to monitor their conditions of internment and ensure that they are treated with dignity, in accordance with international standards. At the request of the parties and with the consent of those concerned, the ICRC, in its role as a neutral intermediary, can facilitate the repatriation of prisoners of war and civilian internees in coordination with the parties to the conflict. The ICRC does not have a mandate to resettle detainees in a third country.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. A precarious ceasefire was reached after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994. Since the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.