The families of the Armenian prisoners held in Baku have written an open letter to the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Armenia, asking the senior Canadian official on hostage issues to involve in the release of the Armenian prisoners held in Baku and to support the efforts for their immediate and unconditional release.
The full text of the letter.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
Yerevan, Armenia
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
We, the members of the families of Armenian prisoners held in Baku, welcome your historic visit to Armenia on the occasion of participating in the 8th Summit of the European Political Community. We hope that your presence will strengthen Canada-Armenia relations and contribute to peace, security and stability in the region.
With this letter, we would like to draw your attention to an urgent humanitarian problem. our relatives, 19 Armenian prisoners continue to be illegally detained in Azerbaijan. Despite numerous calls from international bodies, including the European Parliament, for their immediate and unconditional release, Azerbaijan continues to illegally detain them, prolonging the suffering of their families and undermining confidence in the peace process.
Canada has shown principled leadership in the fight against arbitrary detention and hostage diplomacy. By establishing the Institute of Senior Hostage Officials and by pioneering the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in Interstate Relations, Canada has affirmed that people should not be used as political leverage in interstate relations. With all due respect, we note that what is being done with our relatives is fully consistent with the spirit and purpose of these commitments.
Our concerns are deepened by the conditions of their detention and the serious human rights violations reported by international actors. Their trials have been widely criticized as inconsistent with fair trial principles. Azerbaijani officials have announced that they have no intention of releasing the former officials of Nagorno Karabakh. The termination of the physical presence of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Azerbaijan deprived our families of the opportunity to receive regular and impartial information about their whereabouts.
Canada’s experience gives this call a special moral weight. Canada has gone through its own reconciliation process and realized that lasting peace can be built not on denial, silence or unhealed wounds, but on truth, recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership. The same principle applies here. a peace that allows people to be arbitrarily detained and their families to suffer cannot be reliable, sustainable or just.
Dear Mr. Prime Minister, in your speech in Davos, you presented the principled and pragmatic vision of “value-based realism” based on human rights, sovereignty, territorial integrity and the rule of law. You mentioned Vaclav Havel’s warning about “living in a lie”. The ongoing detention of Armenian prisoners in Baku is just such a situation, which should be called by its real name and resolved.
With all due respect, we ask you to engage Canada’s senior hostage affairs official in the case of the Armenian prisoners held in Baku and support efforts for their immediate and unconditional release. We also ask Canada to use its voice, diplomatic channels and relations with the European Union, the United States and other parties to the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention to coordinate pressure on Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s commitment to peace will not inspire confidence in the Armenian public as long as Armenian prisoners remain in captivity. Their release and repatriation are indispensable to any real peace process and a vital confidence-building measure.
Your visit to Yerevan is an important opportunity to demonstrate that Canada’s commitment to ending arbitrary detention is not just words, but also action. With the greatest respect, we call on you to meet with the families of the prisoners held in Baku, listen to us and raise the issue of Armenian prisoners in your meetings with the leaders of other countries. We strongly believe that Canada can play a fundamental and constructive role in ending the suffering of our families. We thank you for your attention to this urgent humanitarian issue and look forward to Canada’s support in securing the release and safe return of our loved ones.
Free Armenian Prisoners:
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