The federal government is calling for the release of Armenian detainees and prisoners of war in Azerbaijan as it praised the road to peace paved by a White House-brokered meeting last week between the two countries locked in decades of conflict.

"By initialling the peace agreement and both acknowledging Armenia and Azerbaijan sovereignty and territorial integrity, these countries have taken important steps toward a just and durable peace for the people of this region," said Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in a statement posted on social media Sunday night.

However, she also noted lingering issues, including "the release of all Armenian detainees and prisoners of war, the safe and dignified right of return of Armenian civilians and the preservation of cultural heritage."

Anand also reaffirmed Canada's commitment to a "negotiated political solution" over the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh.  

The mountainous region is internationally recognized as Azerbaijan but was inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until two years ago, and ruled by a de-facto ethnic Armenian government for about three decades. 

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two major wars over the territory since the early '90s. The latter ultimately prevailed in a military offensive in September 2023 that saw the exodus of some 120,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia, a move described as "ethnic cleansing" by Armenia at the time, as well as others such as Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae and the NGO Freedom House in a report last year. 

Agreement sidesteps prisoner issue

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev met at the Oval Office with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, where they signed a peace agreement which would boost bilateral economic ties and move them toward a full normalization of their relations, if it holds. 

On Monday, the two countries published the 17 articles of the agreement, which largely focus on respecting each other's territorial integrity. 

Armenian media outlets have been documenting the imprisonment and trials of Armenian prisoners of war in the Azerbaijan justice system, including those of soldiers who fought in a 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and the political leadership of the enclave's former de-facto republic.

Published statements by Canada's G7 allies make no mention of detainees or the right of return of Nagorno-Karabakh's former inhabitants to their homes, though a joint multi-country declaration to the UN Human Rights Council raised the refugees' right of return in October 2023, signed at the time by a list of nations including Canada, France and the U.S. 

"Those are issues that can't be swept under the rug. They're really important," said Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Global Security think-tank.

"The Armenian government is taking a risk here and it needs to find the right balance so that the Armenian population will support [the agreement]."

He said it is possible the remaining G7 nations are too consumed by the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war to play close attention to the South Caucasus deal. But he hopes that European countries are bringing up these issues privately.

Europe has links to the Caucasus region. A civilian EU mission in Armenia, which includes a Canadian delegate, has been patrolling the border area between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2023. 

And oil-rich Azerbaijan is a supplier to the EU, with British gas giant BP a major investor. 

Trump asked Armenia PM if prisoners 'important'

Pashinyan himself has said as recently as March that he brings up the plight of prisoners in all negotiations with Azerbaijan.

A snippet of footage from the Oval Office meeting on Friday has been making rounds on social media, showing Trump asking the Armenian prime minister about "23 Christians" that are being held in Azerbaijan.

The U.S. president then says he's going to ask Azerbaijan to release them. "That's important if he could, right?" he asks, as Pashinyan nods.

The agreement grants the U.S. exclusive development rights to a strategic transit corridor on Armenia's territory. 

It would link Azerbaijan to the autonomous exclave of Nakhchivan which also borders Turkey, a traditional Azerbaijan ally.

Azerbaijan has made claims to the corridor for years, predating the latest rounds of hostilities. But the agreement says it will remain part of Armenia, with the land leased out to the U.S.