Release of detained citizens by Armenia and Azerbaijan is not part of ''all for all'' principle – MFA Armenia
17:54, 28 June, 2019
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. The return of Azerbaijani citizen Elvin Arif Oglu Ibrahimov who illegally crossed the Armenian border on March 16, 2019 by Armenia and the return of Armenian citizen Zaven Karapetyan who accidentally crossed the border with Azerbaijan on July 15, 2018 by Azerbaijan is not carried out in the sidelines of ''all for all'' principle, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan told News.am.
''This is not an exchange of detained, since Armenia had declared earlier that it returns Elvin Arif Oglu Ibrahimov, who illegally crossed the Armenian order on May 16 of this year, to Azerbaijan without any preconditions, based on humanitarian considerations'', she said, adding that the process was carried out with close collaboration with the ICRC. Ibrahimov had not committed any grave crime and his return based on humanitarian principle was applicable.
‘’We also took notice of the decision of Azerbaijan to release Armenian citizen Zaven Karapetyan, who appeared in the territory of Azerbaijan under unknown circumstances on June 20, 2017, and together with the ICRC organized his return to his homeland’’, Anna Naghdalyan said, expressing happiness over the return of the Armenian citizen to his homeland.
Azerbaijan has proposed the principle of ‘’all for all’’ (they propose to return the 3 Armenians kept in Azerbaijan, demanding the release of 3 Azerbaijanis kept in Armenia, 2 of which have been convicted in Artsakh for grave crimes). Armenia has always been devoted to real humanitarian acts, but those humanitarian acts should not show tolerance towards impunity, particularly in the case of grave crimes. The deliberate murder of a minor is a grave crime in any society, therefor ‘’all for all’’ principle is not acceptable for the Armenian side. Besides, the glorification of hatred-based murders and making idols of those criminals is already grievous act.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan