Armenia, Azerbaijan Exchange Prisoners as Part of Normalization of Relations

Armenia and Azerbaijan have swapped their respective prisoners of war (POWs) at the border of their two countries on Wednesday (December 13) in a step towards normalization of relations after Azerbaijan emerged victorious in their decades-old conflict, especially during the recent Fall of Nagorno-Karabakh.

(Photo : STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

The swap involved the release of 32 Armenian POWs, mostly captured during the six-week war in late 2020, in exchange for two Azerbaijani soldiers held since April this year.

Russian state-run TASS news agency earlier reported that both countries were also discussing the withdrawal of troops from their shared border, though a consensus has yet to be reached.

"Thirty-one personnel from Armenia's armed forces captured in 2020-2023 and one serviceman captured in Nagorno-Karabakh in September have crossed the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and are on Armenian territory," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook account.

Constant Conflict in the Caucasus

Reuters reported that the southern Caucasus has seen three decades of wars between the two neighboring countries in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, especially in the once Armenian-held territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, whose government would cease to exist by the end of this year after Baku's forces recaptured the region last September.

As a result of the capitulation, ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh were forced to flee for Armenia rather than attaining Azerbaijani citizenship.

The two sides agreed to a prisoner exchange as a move to "reconfirm their intention to normalize relations and to reach a peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The deal was welcomed by the European Union and the United States, which have tried for decades to persuade the two nations to sign a peace treaty to settle outstanding issues, including the demarcation of their borders.