Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 12
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with Azerbaijanis taken hostage by Armenians in the occupied Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan.
Details of the meeting and the conditions of detention of the hostages were not reported.
Previously, Armenian media reported that the Armenian forces, during an operation in the occupied Kalbajar region's Shaplar village on July 11, killed an Azerbaijani - Hasan Hasanov, and detained two other Azerbaijanis - Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov.
A criminal case was filed against them.
The ICRC told Trend earlier that Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov was buried in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said the fate of Azerbaijani citizens taken hostages in the Kalbajar region, is its priority.
The families of Azerbaijanis, taken hostage by Armenians in Kalbajar region, have officially appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Currently, the ICRC continues talks with the parties on this matter.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry denied the information about affiliation of the mentioned persons to the country's armed forces.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.