YEREVAN. Sept 19 (Interfax) - Yerevan is mulling Baku's proposal on exchanging two Armenian citizens held in Azerbaijan for two Azerbaijanis convicted in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), spokesperson to Armenian Prime Minister Vladimir Karapetyan said on Thursday.
"We are aware and are discussing the matter. Considering its delicacy, we will make a public statement when we are about to make a decision," Karapetyan told journalists on Thursday.
David Babayan, a spokesperson for the NKR president, called Baku's proposal "absurd."
"Azerbaijan wishes to exchange civilians of Armenian ethnicity held in captivity for Askerov and Guliyev, who have committed serious crimes, including the killing of a minor. This is absurd," Babayan told local media.
The Azerbaijani State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Citizens said on Wednesday Baku was willing to exchange two Armenian captives held under arrest in Azerbaijan for the Azerbaijanis convicted in the unrecognized NKR.
"We are prepared to exchange Karen Ghazaryan and Arayik Ghazaryan for Dilgam Askerov and Shakhbaz Guliyev," it said.
An appeal on the preparedness for the exchange was sent to relevant international bodies on September 11, the statement said.
Azerbaijani servicemen detained Karen Ghazaryan in mid-July 2018. He was charged with crimes against Azerbaijan. The investigators forwarded his case to a relevant judicial instance. Arayik Ghazaryan was detained at the Fizuli section of the Karabakh front on August 12.
Azerbaijani citizen Guliyev and Russian citizen Askerov were given 22 years of imprisonment and a life sentence, respectively, in Stepanakert for murdering a juvenile resident of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), illegally entering the NKR's territory, and reconnaissance activities.
Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven districts in the early 1990s as a result of a conflict with the Armenian population of the region, and with Armenia.
Armenia and the unrecognized NKR on the one hand and Azerbaijan on the other declared a ceasefire in May 1994.
The peace process is being mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, which was established in 1992 to search for ways of a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The group comprises Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Turkey and is co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States.
Azerbaijan does not see the self-proclaimed NKR as a party to the conflict and refuses to negotiate with it.