Canada only in the G7 with the liberation of prisoners in Armenia, Azerbaijan, in peace to speak

The federal government calls for the liberation of Armenian detainees and prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, while it praised the peace road paved by a meeting of the White House last week between the two countries locked in decades of conflict.

“By initiating to the peace agreement and both recognizing the sovereignty of Armenia and Azerbaijan and territorial integrity, these countries have taken important measures towards a just and lasting peace for the inhabitants of this region,” said Foreign Minister Anita Ananda in a statement published on social media on Sunday evening.

However, she also noted persistent problems, notably “the release of all Armenian prisoners and prisoners of war, safe law worthy of the return of Armenian civilians and the preservation of cultural heritage”.

Anand also reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to a “negotiated political solution” on the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The mountainous region is internationally recognized as Azerbaijan but was mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians up to two years ago, and governed by an ethnic facto facto government for about three decades.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two great wars in the territory since the early 1990s. The latter finally prevailed in a military offensive in September 2023 which saw the exodus of some 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Armenia, a decision described as an “ethnic cleaning” by Armenia at the time, as well as others like the Canadian Ambassador for the United Nations NGO Freedom House in a report last year.

The agreement bypasses the question of prisoners

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan and the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, gathered at the oval office with the American president Donald Trump on Friday, where they signed a peace agreement which would stimulate bilateral economic ties and move them towards a complete normalization of their relations, if it will be held.

On Monday, the two countries published the 17 articles of the agreement, which are largely focused on respect for the territorial integrity of the other.

The Armenian media documented the imprisonment and trials of Armenian prisoners of war in the Azerbaijani judicial system, including those of soldiers who fought in a 44-day war against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and the political leadership of the former de facto republic of the enclave.

The declarations published by the allies of the G7 of Canada make no mention of the detainees or the right to return from the former inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh at home, although a joint declaration of several countries to the United Nations Human Rights Council increased the right to return refugees in October 2023signed at the time by a list of nations, notably Canada, France and the United States

“These are problems that cannot be swept under the carpet. They are really important,” said Kyle Matthews, executive director of Montreal Institute for Global Security Think Tank.

“The Armenian government takes a risk here and it must find the right balance so that the Armenian population supports (the agreement).”

He said that it is possible that the remaining G7 nations are too consumed by the current war of Ukraine-Russia to draw particular attention to the agreement of the South Caucasus. But he hopes that European countries raise these problems in private.

Europe has links to the Caucasus region. An EU civil mission in Armenia, which includes a Canadian delegate, patrolled in the border area between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2023.

And Azerbaijan rich in oil is a supplier of the EU, the British gas giant BP, an important investor.

Trump asked Armenia PM if “important” prisoners

Pashinyan himself also recently declared that March which he raises the fate of prisoners in all negotiations with Azerbaijan.

On Friday, an extract from sequences from the meeting of the Oval Office made tours on social networks, showing Trump questioning the Armenian Prime Minister about the “Christians” who stand in Azerbaijan.

The American president then says that he will ask the Azerbaijan to release them. “It’s important if he could, right?” He asks, while Pashinyan nods.

The agreement grants exclusive development rights to the United States on a strategic transport corridor in the territory of Armenia.

It would connect Azerbaijan to the autonomous exclave of Nakhchinan who also borders Turkey, a traditional ally in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan makes complaints in the corridor for years, prior to the latest hostility cycles. But the agreement says that he will remain in Armenia, the land rented in the United States