By Shoghik Galstian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on November 20 that he expects the United States to help secure the release of the 23 Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, citing a promise given to him by President Donald Trump.
Meeting with Pashinyan at the White House on August 8, Trump pledged to ask Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to free the “23 Christians.” He said he is confident that Aliyev will agree to do that. It is still not clear whether Trump acted on the pledge.
Pashinyan revealed that he raised the matter with US Under Secretary of State Allison Hooker when he met her in Yerevan last week.
“During the meeting, I specifically addressed that issue, noting that President Trump has spoken, including publicly, about his commitment to addressing that issue,” he told journalists. “I presented what we are doing on a bilateral level regarding that issue, and I asked the US undersecretary of state to provide information on US efforts made in that direction, and I asked her to keep the issue in the spotlight.”
Pashinyan said nothing about Hooker’s response. The US official proceeded to Baku from Yerevan. Her talks with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders focused on details of a US-administered transit corridor for Azerbaijan which would pass through a key Armenian region.
