Azerbaijani FM's letter about Armenia-captured Azerbaijani soldiers circulated as UN document

The letter from Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concerning the Azerbaijani soldiers taken prisoner by Armenia, Agshin Babirov and Huseyn Akhundov, has been circulated as a UN Security Council and General Assembly document.

The letter expresses serious concern that Armenia refuses to return Azerbaijani army soldiers who lost their way in bad weather conditions and were captured by the Armenian armed forces, as well as subjected them to torture and other inhumane acts contrary to international humanitarian law and obligations, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The letter also states that a criminal case has been fabricated against the captured soldiers.

It has been brought to the attention of the UN secretary-general that despite the evidence of torture and other criminal acts available on social networks and other open sources, the Armenian side, instead of punishing those who commit these acts, is trying to use Azerbaijani soldiers as the subject of the deal. The letter protests that a 'trial' was organised in Armenia for this purpose on spurious charges and Agshin Babirov was sentenced to 11.6 years in prison.

According to the letter, contradictory statements have been made by Armenian officials regarding the captured Azerbaijani soldiers, once again demonstrating how Armenia has ignored international humanitarian law and the principles of humanity through its irresponsible behaviour.

“The failure of the Armenian side to respond to confidence-building measures with Azerbaijan, which returned Armenian prisoners of war without any preconditions, in particular more than 10 Armenian soldiers who had lost their way and crossed the border, demonstrates that Armenia is not interested in establishing peace and trust in the region,” the letter adds.

The letter notes that these provocative steps by Armenia coincided with a period when the international community was intensifying its efforts in the process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

It also states that the "trial" fabricated by Armenia took place a few days after the four-day talks in Washington between the two countries' foreign ministers and on the eve of a meeting of the heads of state, mediated by the European Union and other partners.

“The letter concludes with a call to the UN secretary-general to condemn Armenia's provocative activities accompanied by gross violations of international humanitarian law and to pressure Armenia to immediately stop such provocations and unconditionally release the Azerbaijani soldiers with respect for their dignity and lives," the Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier, Azerbaijan said that it handed over 681 Armenians to Yerevan after the first and second Karabakh wars.

To recap, Armenia, which promised to cooperate with Azerbaijan to determine the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis, still fails to return the bodies of servicemen, who went missing during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

Armenia has yet to provide information about the mass graves of 3,890 missing Azerbaijani citizens (including 71 children, 267 women and 326 elderly people).