BAKU: Armenia and Azerbaijan took a significant step towards normalizing relations on Wednesday as they exchanged prisoners of war. This development marks the first time the neighboring countries have swapped prisoners since Azerbaijan’s swift military operation in September that led to the retaking of the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan’s military offensive, lasting only one day, ended almost three decades of Armenian separatist control over Karabakh. Despite the subsequent release of a joint statement last week by both nations pledging to achieve a “long-awaited peace in the region” and announcing plans for a POW exchange, peace talks mediated by the European Union, the United States, and Russia have remained stalled.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan announced that it had freed 32 Armenian military personnel, while Armenia released two Azerbaijani soldiers. The exchange took place at the Gazakh sector of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border. The International Committee of the Red Cross examined the health of the released soldiers before the handover.
Armenian, Azerbaijan Prisoners Swap
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a list of the 32 freed Armenian servicemen on his Facebook page. The move was welcomed by international mediators, including the European Union, the United States, Turkey, and Russia, who praised it as a “breakthrough.”
The exchange has raised hopes for the resumption of peace talks between Pashinyan and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, who have previously engaged in discussions mediated by EU chief Charles Michel. The process has been on hold since October, with no visible progress in EU efforts to organize a fresh round of negotiations.
The territorial dispute, considered unresolvable for years, saw Azerbaijan’s decisive victory, leading to the reintegration of Nagorno-Karabakh with Baku. The conflict, which spanned two wars in 2020 and the 1990s, resulted in tens of thousands of lives lost on both sides.
