Return of Prisoners of War After Brussels Meeting was Image Issue Resolution for Azerbaijan: Tigran Abrahamyan

Azerbaijan was interested in bringing the process with Armenia to the EU platform at this stage, and ensuring a stop at this juncture was entirely in a different logic. This was stated by Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the National Assembly’s 'I Have Honor' faction, on his Facebook page.

“The issue was not about declaring regional unblocking or a new railway within that framework, but resolving its image issues in Europe. Azerbaijan, which has recorded a stable decline in human rights and democracy, returned 10 prisoners of war after the meeting in Brussels, attempting to demonstrate the role of the West in the processes regarding Armenia. The expectation is for European structures to either turn a blind eye or soften their approach to the authoritarian processes occurring in Azerbaijan.”

“In the same way, Azerbaijan uses the topic of Armenian prisoners of war in its relations with other geopolitical centers, the main goal being to fix Azerbaijan's new position and status. P.S. The second phase of the nightmare begins for the returned prisoners of war, which is related to the widespread criminal cases declared by the authorities against them,” Abrahamyan wrote.