Türk‘s silent response to the question about the return of Armenian prisoners of war

In the speech of Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on June 25, during the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, not a single word was mentioned about our region. Worth mentioning that Turk, who became a commissioner on the nomination of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, was one of the almost unknown candidates in the field.

During the opportunity for questions, Armen Gevorgyan, the Armenian delegate to the PACE, asked the commissioner: “One of the core obstacles in finding a fair and mutually acceptable peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains the issue of repatriation of Armenian captives and prisoners of war illegally held in Azerbaijan, including the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. In this regard, I would like to ask: are you aware of this problem? And what is your approach and that of the United Nations to find immediate solutions to the issue of the release of captive Armenians?”

First of all, the commissioner gave a not-so-understandable response. ” No, it is obviously and one of those issues that preoccupied all of us in particular last year with the expulsion of the Armenians from Azerbaijan, from the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, and we have actually undertaken a number of missions, in particular to Armenia, to find out more about what happened to them and it is part of our dialogue both with Azerbaijan and Armenia to find a solution to this.”

Then Turk continued: ” There is, of course, the right to return. There is the right to ensure that the properties are respected and protected and it is really important that the peace process continues and that part of the peace process is also issues of accountability and transitional justice.”

Strasbourg, France