By Trend
The fact that the European Parliament (EP) calls the Armenian terrorists “prisoners of war” is a manifestation of an unfair approach, Azerbaijani MP Afet Hasanova told Trend.
According to Hasanova, the appeal of the members of the European Parliament to the heads of the European Commission and the EU with a demand to return “Armenian prisoners” from Azerbaijan is another manifestation of double standards, bias, and injustice.
The people whom the MEPs call “Armenian prisoners of war” are terrorists and criminals, and the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry timely informed the world community about this, she said.
But in reality, terrorists are those Armenian servicemen who committed armed provocations on the territory of Azerbaijan after the trilateral agreement of November 10, 2020, and were neutralized by the Azerbaijani side, the MP stressed.
As it is known, according to the agreement of November 10, Azerbaijan handed over more than 70 prisoners of war to Armenia, while Armenia returned 12 prisoners of war to Azerbaijan, Hasanova noted.
“The issue raised by the EP arose about a month after the signing of the agreement on November 10, 2020. As a result of the actions of the Armenian troops and provocations in the territories controlled by Azerbaijan, according to the document, four Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and one civilian was wounded,” she added.
“As a result of the operation carried out by Azerbaijan, the Armenian sabotage group was neutralized, 62 people were detained. Following the investigation, the fact of the transfer of these people to Azerbaijani territories on November 26 was confirmed. All of them are residents of Armenia. According to Azerbaijani legislation, all these people have committed a crime,” the MP said.
“Everyone knows that in order to call a person a prisoner of war, there must be hostilities. However, if military operations are not being conducted, such people can only be called terrorists. Azerbaijan has informed international organizations about this, emphasizing that such actions pose a serious threat to security in the region, and also noted the importance of exerting serious pressure on Armenia,” Hasanova noted.
“The EP is surely aware of this, but it still raises this issue, demonstrating double standards and prejudice towards Azerbaijan,” she said.
The MP noted that if the European Parliament is so fair, then it should raise the issue of 4,000 Azerbaijanis who went missing during the first Karabakh war.
“Why is the European Parliament not worried about the issue of Armenia setting mines all over Azerbaijan’s formerly occupied lands, which ave been under occupation for 30 years?! This structure turns a blind eye to the death of people from these mines, does not say a word about Armenia’s refusal to provide Azerbaijan with maps of mined territories, but demands the return of so-called “prisoners of war”,” the MP added.
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