ARMENIAN MAN DETAINED CROSSING CONTACT LINE OF ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI TROOPS, RETURNED
Trend, Azerbaijan
March 4 2014
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4
By Ilkin Izzet – Trend:
Armenian citizen Khojayan Mamika Tigranovich, who was arrested on Jan.
28 while attempting to cross the contact line of Armenian and
Azerbaijani troops, was returned to his own country on March 4,
secretary of Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War,
Hostages and Missing Persons, Shahin Sailov told Trend.
He said Khojayan Mamika Tigranovich was handed over to Armenia with
the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
ICRC later said that Khojayan Mamika was placed in the Armenian
officials’ care on the road between Azerbaijani town of Gazakh and
Armenian town of Ijevan, at the international border.
“ICRC delegates had visited the man prior to his repatriation in order
to assess the conditions in which he was being held and the treatment
he received. Representatives of the organization had also been in
contact with his family in Armenia,” the committee said. “Acting as
a neutral intermediary and in accordance with its mandate, the ICRC
facilitated this repatriation in conjunction with the Azerbaijani
and Armenian authorities”.
It should be noted that Khojayan Mamika was detained on Jan. 28
while trying to cross a river in the Alibayli village of Azerbaijan’s
Tovuz district.
On the basis of its mandate under the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC
has been working in the region since 1992 in connection with the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since
1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
Translated by E.A.
Edited by C.N.