Thoughts and Prayers: Guterres on Armenian POWs
They asked the UN chief about Armenian POWs in Baku. His answer says everything.
During COP17 in Yerevan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres faced questions about Armenian prisoners of war still held in Baku. His reply, in the hosts’ telling, amounted to appeals to peace and calls on all parties, with no concrete UN action. Hovik calls it the most disgusting instance of patronization and mockery of the pain felt by Armenians, and says the moment confirmed for him that international order simply does not exist. In his words, the people walking these halls are ghosts without any impactful abilities. It is a raw, quotable indictment that needs no setup to hit hard.
The exchange matters because it crystallizes a recurring theme in recent Armenian news: the gap between the language of international institutions and their willingness to pressure Azerbaijan. Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian detainees remain in Baku jails, and the UN’s posture at a conference hosted on Armenian soil shows the limits of diplomacy without leverage. For an audience following the prisoners of war issue and the broader Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, this is a clear, shareable summary of why hope in outside rescue keeps failing.
Asbed then sharpens the point by turning the mirror inward. He argues that the real obstacle is not only Baku or the UN but the Armenian government itself, contending that Pashinyan has not made the prisoners’ return a genuine priority despite outside offers. That combination, an international official offering thoughts and prayers alongside a domestic failure to prioritize the detainees, gives the clip both an outward and an inward target. It connects the human rights stakes of the prisoners of war question to Armenian domestic politics, and it does so in under ninety seconds with language built for sharing across platforms.
Transcript
Hovik Manucharyan: So, I guess the UN secretary was also in Armenia.
Asbed Bedrossian: Yeah, Guterres, Antonio Guterres was here also.
Hovik Manucharyan: He, yeah. So when he was asked about Armenian POWs in Baku, what was his reply? Peace is important to us, blah, blah, blah.
Asbed Bedrossian: Ha ha
Hovik Manucharyan: We call on all parties, both sides, blah, blah, blah. God bless, you know. And it was the most disgusting instance of patronization and mockery of the pain felt by Armenians right now, by true Armenians, by most of Armenians, I would say. And yeah, you know, it's. It was just a confirmation for me that international order doesn't exist. All of these are just ghosts. All these people are ghosts, walking around without any impactful abilities. All right.
Asbed Bedrossian: Did you actually expect him to say more than that?
Hovik Manucharyan: Of course not.
Asbed Bedrossian: I mean, we've said on this show multiple times, some of these people can't
Hovik Manucharyan: know.
Asbed Bedrossian: be more Armenian than Armenians. And as far as these POWs go, the real problem, us Armenians or the Armenian government, look in the mirror, right?
Hovik Manucharyan: Yeah, exactly.
Asbed Bedrossian: This government, Pashinyan's government, is the one that does not want the POWs back. And that's why those people have not come back. After multiple offers, Trump offering to get those Christian POWs back. and Pashinyan basically turning it down.