By Elen Muradyan
UPDATE: Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has clarified remarks he made during Monday’s campaign event in Gyumri, where he responded irritably to journalists questioning him about Armenian prisoners held in Baku.
Speaking to reporters at Zvartnots airport on May 26, Mirzoyan said his “Enough already” remark was not directed specifically at a question concerning the detainees, but came after a series of repeated questions from journalists to which he had declined to respond. “I don’t understand — can anyone seriously think that one could respond to a question about prisoners by saying ‘Enough already’?” Mirzoyan said.
. . .
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan responded irritably to a journalist’s question about Armenian prisoners held in Baku, saying: “Ah, you’ve become unbearable.”
The exchange took place on Monday during an election campaign event in Gyumri, where journalists asked Mirzoyan whether he would raise the issue of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan during talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio arrived in Yerevan on Tuesday for a brief visit.
Journalists routinely ask Armenian officials whether the issue of Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan has been or will be discussed during high-level meetings and visits.
When responding to questions on the issue, Mirzoyan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan usually say the public should not expect detailed information about negotiations. They insist, however, that there are no direct or indirect talks related to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in which the issue of prisoners is not raised.
Still, Armenia did not publicly raise the issue of Armenian prisoners during the European Political Community summit held in Yerevan on May 4, nor during the subsequent EU-Armenia summit on May 5.
During the EPC summit, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who joined via video call, targeted former Artsakh officials held in Baku, describing them as “war criminals.” Pashinyan did not respond to the remarks.
Ahead of the summit, Pashinyan told journalists that Armenia did not plan to discuss the issue of Armenian prisoners with EU partners, arguing that doing so would not be effective. Instead, he said the matter would be addressed through direct contacts with Baku.
Azerbaijan captured eight members of Artsakh’s former military-political leadership in September 2023, following a nine-month blockade and military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh and the forced displacement of the region’s entire Armenian population. They have since been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment. Officially, 19 Armenian detainees are currently held in Baku.
A day earlier, former Artsakh state minister Ruben Vardanyan released a message from a prison in Baku through family members. In the statement, he said Armenia was doing nothing in an organized way regarding the detainees and accused “the commander-in-chief who lost the war,” a reference to Pashinyan, of failing to ensure that the prisoners “feel that a state stands behind them.”
Also read: Ruben Vardanyan criticizes Pashinyan, calls on Armenians to reject “immoral” military parade
Azerbaijan convicted the former Artsakh leadership and eight civilians on charges including “terrorism,” “war crimes,” and “genocide.”
A court in Baku sentenced former Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, former Defense Army commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, former deputy commander Davit Manukyan, former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan and former parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan to life imprisonment.
Former Artsakh presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, as well as Vardanyan, were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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