Azerbaijan MFA warns France, Canada

Foreign Ministries of France and Canada on their official Twitter pages shared that the release of 3 Armenian detainees by Azerbaijan is considered a positive step and appealed for the release of other Armenian detainees, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva said, responding to calls of the Foreign Ministries of France and Canada for the release of Armenian detainees.

"We would like to remind that this is not the first time that Azerbaijan shows humanism; our country even handed over Armenian captives to the other side during the military operations," Leyla Abdullayeva said.

Report informs that according to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, after the cessation of hostilities, more than 70 Armenian detainees were returned to the other side.

"Inversely, however, Armenia sent its militants into Azerbaijani territory almost 20 days after the cessation of operations, undermining the fragile peace that had been achieved with great difficulty. As a result of the terrorist act committed by those servicemen, 4 Azerbaijani military personnel were killed, and one civilian was injured. We bring to the attention of the foreign ministries of both countries that the Armenian side is still not fulfilling its obligations under international humanitarian law and its obligations under trilateral statements. Apparently, both countries are aware that Armenia has not yet provided information on about 4,000 Azerbaijanis who went missing during the 1991-94 war and refused to provide maps of landmines buried in the liberated areas. If the French and Canadian Foreign Ministries want to take a non-one-sided, objective approach to the issue, they will have to call on Armenia to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and refrain from actions that could impede lasting peace in the region. Otherwise, it will seriously damage the confidence of the Azerbaijani society for both countries," Leyla Abdullayeva said.