Azerbaijan Wants to Return Askerov and Guliyev to Make them Heroes as it Happened with Safarov - Babayan

• 11.07.2018, 17:20
•  Region,  World,  Armenia,  NKR

The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh have never opposed the return and exchange of citizens who appeared on the opponent’s territory by mistake, spokesperson for the Artsakh President Davit Babayan said in an interview with News.am, commenting on the statement made by Azerbaijani official who said they "are ready to exchange captives", News.am reports. 

"A normal person cannot oppose the exchange of captives. And we never said that we oppose such processes. However, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between citizens who have mistakenly appeared on the opposite side and terrorists," Babayan said.

The Artsakh representative stressed that the demand of Azerbaijan to return Askerov and Guliyev could not "fit into the framework of humanity".

"This is an attempt to exchange terrorists. These spies illegally entered Artsakh, committed terrorist acts and killed a young man. These individuals stood trial. The court was open, with the participation of international observers, the media, human rights activists," Babayan emphasized.

He believes that Baku’s goals are clear: they want to return Askerov and Guliyev to make them heroes as it happened with Safarov.

"In response, both of them will become even more faithful servants of the regime and will be ready to carry out any order," he added.

At the same time, Baku is solving another problem – they are trying to sow discord in the Armenian society itself.

"Probably, families of the captured Armenians once may say ‘well, let them exchange, release our relatives’. Although we are talking about ordinary people who have problems on the one hand, and terrorists, on the other," he concluded.