Gegham Stepanian criticized the government as he led a demonstration in Yerevan in support of at least 23 Armenians remaining in Azerbaijani captivity. The several hundred demonstrators marched to the United Nations office in the capital, the U.S., Russian and French embassies as well as the Armenian Foreign Ministry building. They demanded that the international community pressure Azerbaijan to release the prisoners and shed light on the fate of dozens of missing Karabakh Armenians ahead of the COP29 climate summit that will take place in Baku next month.
Stepanian complained that “the Armenian authorities are not taking active steps in this direction” and may even send a delegation to the global summit if the Azerbaijani side continues to hold the prisoners.
“There has to be a policy pursued at the state level,” he told reporters. “No matter how much various groups, including the relatives of the captives and missing persons, and concerned citizens stage such actions, I believe that it’s the Republic of Armenia that must primarily raise the issue on the international stage. This is why this petition will also be handed to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.”
Ruben Melikian, Stepanian’s predecessor and an opposition-linked Armenian lawyer, echoed the criticism: “From all [foreign] places, we officially and unofficially get this answer, ‘Your own state is not keen on the issue, what do you want from us?’ Unfortunately, it’s hard to counter the answer.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has insisted that his administration keeps pressing for the release of the prisoners. But he has given no details of those efforts. Other Armenian officials have admitted that a draft Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty discussed by the two sides would not require Baku to unconditionally free the captives.
Ruben Vardanyan, the state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, leads a cabinet meeting in Stepanakert, January 3, 2023.
Also, Pashinian has been widely criticized for his scathing comments about one of the captives, Armenian billionaire and former Nagorno-Karabakh premier Ruben Vardanyan, made at an August 31 news conference. He wondered who had told Vardanyan to renounce Russian citizenship and move to Karabakh in 2022 and “for what purpose.”
Critics said that Pashinian thus echoed Azerbaijani leaders’ earlier claims that Vardanyan was dispatched to Karabakh by Moscow to serve Russian interests there. They accused the Armenian premier of helping Baku to legitimize and prolong the prominent tycoon’s imprisonment. According to Vardanyan’s office in Yerevan, Azerbaijani interrogators last month asked him questions “in connection with” Pashinian’s comments.
Vardanyan and the seven other Karabakh leaders were captured following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive. They were charged with “terrorism” and other grave crimes and are due to go on trial. The dates of those trials have not been announced yet.