Foreign Minister: Issue of POWs return to Armenia resolved and closed

The issue of returning war prisoners has been resolved and closed. Following its obligations, Azerbaijan handed over all prisoners of war to Armenia, Report informs, citing Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, who spoke at a press conference on the results of a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen.

"We have shown how responsibly we approach this issue: we have handed over more than 70 prisoners of war to Armenia," the Foreign Minister noted.

According to him, under the trilateral statement of November 9 last year, all the prisoners of war captured during the hostilities were transferred to the Armenian side.

"For the military to be considered prisoners of war, they must be detained during military operations. Those who were detained later as a result of the anti-terrorist operation can be called terrorists, not prisoners of war," Bayramov added.

He stressed that all parties to the trilateral agreement must strictly abide by their obligations, while Armenia, even after the signing of the peace treaty, attempts to send its troops to Azerbaijani territories.