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Azerbaijan’s leader says exchange of prisoners and bodies in Karabakh underway

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10

BAKU, December 1. /TASS/. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an address to the nation on Tuesday that the exchange of prisoners and bodies of those killed in action during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continues, the Azertac news agency informed.

"The eighth paragraph (of the joint statement by Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders - TASS) states that there is an exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, as well as bodies. This process is already going on - both the exchange of bodies and prisoners and hostages," Aliyev said.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Baku and Yerevan must exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed.