Arsen Ghazaryan, the uncle of an Armenian soldier who went missing during the recent Artsakh war, is returning to Yerevan from Stepanakert after search efforts have yielded no results.
“During this period, we realized that this process is proceeding very slowly and is being protracted. They are playing games again. Our patience is overflowing. We have decided that we have nothing else to do in Stepanakert and in the morning we are heading to Yerevan,” he said in a Facebook live late on Tuesday.
The uncle said all parents of missing soldiers who are taking part in the search operations in Artsakh will come to Yerevan, calling on all relatives of missing or killed soldiers to join them in raising their voice against the authorities’ mishandling of the issue.
“This has to stop. They [Azerbaijanis] announced that they would return 21 prisoners of war to Armenia, but only 5 prisoners have repatriated. If it continues like this, this process will take several years,” Ghazaryan said, referring to the return of five Armenian POWs from Azerbaijani captivity late on Tuesday.
“Listen, gentlemen, we cannot wait for years until you get back 5 prisoners each time. So if you do not have a clear idea of what it means to be in captivity, place your children next to ours, sit down and wait for their return with us. How long are you going to stall for time? What do you want?” the angry man said, again urging all relatives of missing servicemen to join their efforts.
Also, he accused the authorities of starting the search operations for war casualties in the Azerbaijani-held territories of Artsakh very late.