
ArmInfo. Armenia harshly criticized the meeting between Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan and Azerbaijani Presidential Aide Hikmet Hajiyev in Dilijan.
Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the Armenian parliament from the opposition "I Have the Honor" faction, expressed his conviction that the joyful meeting between the Armenian Security Council Secretary and Aliyev's aide in Dilijan implies a different dimension than just political.
"I wonder what makes a man born in the Artsakh city of Martuni so happy to meet his executioner? Did his childhood dream come true when his homeland was Azerbaijanized? Since the 1990s, thousands of people from Artsakh's Martuni, or simply Armenians, have been killed. Armen, how did you digest this? Was it easy, or do you simply not care? Given what happened to Artsakh, how do you live, breathe, and enjoy life in the company of those who surrendered Artsakh, and spend joyful and cheerful times with a prominent representative of those who brought war to Artsakh and committed genocide? You care only about fame and status, and the destruction of your homeland, the death and suffering of your compatriots, mean nothing to you," Abrahamyan wrote on his Facebook page.
Mesrop Arakelyan, a member of the "Country for Life" party, also commented on the meeting, noting that on June 14, Artsakh's Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan proudly strolled through Dilijan with Azerbaijani Presidential Aide Hajiyev.
"This is the city where Ruben Vardanyan, currently in prison in Baku, invested $236 million, making Dilijan one of Armenia's main calling cards. Ruben will return and continue his devotion to Dilijan and all of Armenia, while Armen Grigoryan and his boss will go down in history as the authorities who betrayed Artsakh," Arakelyan concluded.
The exact number of Armenian prisoners of war and hostages held in Azerbaijani prisons remains unknown. Experts estimate the number to be in the hundreds. Today, Azerbaijani authorities confirm the presence of 19 Armenians in their custody. Among those held captive by Azerbaijan are eight former and current members of Artsakh's military-political leadership. These include former Artsakh presidents Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan; former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan; as well as parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan; former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army, General Levon Mnatsakanyan; General David Manukyan; and former state minister Ruben Vardanyan.
In February, a Baku puppet court sentenced Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Babayan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Davit Manukyan, and Levon Mnatsakanyan to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges, and Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, and Ruben Vardanyan to 20 years in prison. The so-called court sentenced the remaining Artsakh residents to up to 15 years in prison.