BAKU: Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday swapped prisoners of war, a first step towards normalising relations since Baku retook control of the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in a one-day autumn offensive. It is the first time the neighbours have exchanged prisoners since the lightening September offensive.

Azerbaijan’s military operation ended almost three decades of Armenian separatist control of Karabakh, forcing tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians to flee.

Peace talks — mediated separately by the European Union, the United States and Russia — have since stalled, despite both countries saying an agreement could be signed by the end of this year. Baku on Wednesday announced it had freed more than two dozen Armenian soldiers.

“Azerbaijan freed 32 Armenian military, Armenia freed two Azerbaijani military,” Azerbaijan’s state commission for prisoners of war said in a statement.

It added that “the exchange took place at the Gazakh sector of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border.” “Armenian soldiers were handed to Armenia after the International Committee of the Red Cross examined their health and made a positive conclusion,” the statement said.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2023