STEPANAKERT—Demonstrating good will and commitment to the provisions of the Geneva Convention, Artsakh’s authorities handed over the 15-year-old resident of Azerbaijan, Javid Samiroghlu Muzafarzade, to Azerbaijan with the support of the Stepanakert Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The transfer took place near the Bash Karvend village at the line of contact between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan, the Artsakh State Commission on POWs and Missing Persons said in a statement.
On September 5, 2014, Muzafarzade crossed the border into Karabakh in the Martakert region and was detained by authorities.
The decision of handing over of the teenage Azerbaijani captive by Artsakh authorities is not surprising for Armenia’s former Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan. In her words, both the authorities of Artsakh and Armenia are committed to the international agreements they have signed, including the Geneva Convention. “Regardless of the change of power that happened here and there, everything possible has been done since 1992 to keep in line with those norms. I not only welcome but also consider normal that step by Artsakh’s authorities. Artsakh has always been committed to that approach, especially in the given case that the captive is under-age and there are apparently no doubts that he has come for extending hostile activities,” said Alaverdyan in an interview with Armenpress.
She considers the decision by Artsakh an example of one-sided good will. “Artsakh realizes the norm defined by the Geneva Convention to return a person to his or her homeland, which is an expression of one-sided good will, and it must be clear that it is not done with some expectations, but in accordance with requirements of the Geneva Convention, Artsakh’s good will and our beliefs,” Alaverdyan concluded.
“one-sided good will?????
For most of the civilized world, this would be interpreted as a gesture of peace and cooperation; to them, I bet it’s seen as a sign of weakness. I wonder how much longer we’ll have to wait until Azerbaijan abandons its Nazi-like hatred of Armenians and joins the rest of the civilized world.