International Working Group on Search for Missing Persons and Hostages Visited Karabakh

Baku / 21.11.18 / Turan: The International Working Group on the Search for Missing Persons, including Svetlana Gannushkina, Paata Zakareishvili and Bernhard Clasen, has resumed its mediation mission since last year.

A statement to the press on November 21 said that the members of the IWG had a meeting with representatives of the State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons in Baku, discussing the possibility of starting negotiations with the parties to return the detained persons.

As part of this initiative, the IWG members visited Baku, Yerevan and Stepanakert-Khankendi. They met with representatives of state commissions and two men convicted in Karabakh - Dilgam Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, as well as with two Armenians detained in Baku - Zaven Karapetyan and Arsen Baghdasaryan.

The IWG was able to draw the attention of the parties to the fact that humanitarian work on the search for missing persons should be continued with the participation of international mediators.

The IWG took the initiative to organize a meeting of experts in neutral territory to discuss further plans for the release of prisoners and the possibility of establishing and regulating contacts for rapid response in matters of prisoners and hostages.

Such a meeting was scheduled for this year, but after a long consultation was postponed. The IWG will do everything possible so that it takes place next year, since the parties have expressed their readiness for this, the statement said. -02D-