ICRC representatives meet Azerbaijani hostages
By Jamila Babayeva
Representatives of Khankendi Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with Azerbaijani civilians Dilgham Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev taken hostage by Armenian forces.
Three Azerbaijani civilians (reportedly Russian citizen Dilgam Ahmadov and Azerbaijani citizens Shahbaz Guliyev and Hasan Hasanov) were detained by Armenian forces in early July. Hasanov was killed by Armenian servicemen. ICRC Baku office reported that Hasanov has been buried in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross attended the funeral ceremony as an observer. During the ceremony, a proper respect was shown. Discussions about returning the corpse of Hasanov to Azerbaijan are underway," spokesperson of the ICRC Baku office Ilaha Huseynova said.
She further said that the representatives of ICRC delivered letters of the hostages to their families.
"Letters, written by two Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov, taken hostage by Armenians in Kalbajar, were handed over to their families," Huseynova said.
Dilgham Asgarov's family said he wrote that he feels well, but the family members are worried about Asgarov's health.
Armenia violated the international legal norms by taking hostage the Azerbaijani civilians as they didn't violate any border law between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They were on their own native Kalbajar region while being arrested.
The Armenian armed forces occupied the Kalbajar region on April 2, 1993. Kalbajar, a region of 1,936 square kilometers located outside Nagorno-Karabakh, was the scene of torture of innocent people by the Armenian invaders.
As a result, 511 people died, and 321 went missing or were captured. 55 soldiers were killed during the fighting. 53,340 residents of the Kalbajar region became IDPs. Moreover, 132 settlements and Kalbajar's gold deposits were seized by the Armenians. The invader destroyed more than 500 industrial, construction, catering and retail facilities, 97 schools and 76 health facilities.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle -proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.