Azerbaijan hands over 10 more Armenian prisoners of war

Azerbaijan has freed 10 more Armenian soldiers captured last month during fighting between the Caucasus arch-foes.

"Azerbaijan, with mediation of the European Union, handed over 10 soldiers of Armenian origin" who had been captured on November 16, the Azerbaijani committee in charge of prisoners of war said in a statement. 

Baku said on Sunday that the move was a result of a meeting between Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council chief Charles Michel in Brussels on September 14. 

"Warmly welcome Baku's release of 10 Armenian detainees in follow up to discussions with @azpresident and @NikolPashinyan," Michel wrote in a tweet on Sunday.

"An important humanitarian gesture demonstrating the mutual will to strengthen confidence as discussed in Brussels. EU facilitated transfer to Yerevan."

History of tensions

Azerbaijan had already handed over 10 prisoners to Yerevan on December 4, following Russia-mediated talks, in the first concrete sign of a decrease in tensions since last month's deadly flare-up.

Those were the worst clashes along the shared border since a 44-day conflict in Karabakh – a region that lies within Azerbaijan but was under the occupation of Armenia – last year, which ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire on November 10, 2020.

During the faceoff, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for nearly three decades.

The cease-fire is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.

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