Baku, Azerbaijan, June 28
Trend:
A resident of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh district, who was taken hostage by the Armenian side, has been returned, Trend reports on June 28 with reference to Azerbaijan State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons.
In accordance with the relevant order by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, thanks to an agreement reached as a result of negotiations held by the state commission through mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, a citizen of Azerbaijan, a resident of the Yukhari Salahli village of Gazakh district Elvin Ibrahimov (1986), taken hostage by Armenian soldiers March 16, 2019, and Armenian citizen Zaven Karapetyan (1974), detained on the territory of the Gazakh district June 20, 2017, were handed over to the relevant parties June 28, 2019.
The hostage exchange was organized by the Azerbaijan State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and the State Border Service through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Since during the hostage taking, Elvin Ibrahimov was wounded in the leg as a result of the shooting of Armenian soldiers, and because he underwent several operations while being held hostage, he was urgently taken to a hospital.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.