ArmInfo. At the moment, there is no agreement between Yerevan and Baku on the maps, Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan said on March 20 during the government hour in parliament, answering a question from an opposition MP, on the basis of which map it was decided that a number of villages should be
transferred to Azerbaijan.
"There is an agreement on mutual recognition of territorial integrity
in accordance with the Alma-Ata Declaration and there is a perception
about delimiting the border between the Republic of Armenia and the
Republic of Azerbaijan," Pashinyan said.
As the prime minister explained, the delimitation process does not
mean establishing a new state border line, but de jure rehabilitation
of the borders of the very last period of the Soviet Union <on the
ground>. "It is by this logic that we are guided," he pointed out.
On March 18, during a meeting with residents of Voskepar, Baghanis,
Kirants, Tavush region, Nikol Pashinyan said that the border
demarcation commissions should decide where the border of the
Republic of Armenia begins, and it should become the state border of
the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan."Our policy is
that we must not allow war; we must not allow war to start. And this
is also the reason why we decided to clarify the border of the
Republic of Armenia in these areas and we are doing this not only for
the sake of the Republic of Armenia, but also specifically for the
sake of the village of Voskepar, the village of Kirants, to ensure
the security of these villages," the Prime Minister said.
Earlier, Baku announced that it demands the immediate "return of 4
villages" located on the border of the Tavush region of Armenia and
the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan. The statement followed a meeting of
the border delimitation commissions, headed by the vice-premiers of
the two countries, Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafayev. "As for the
four non-exclave Azerbaijani villages (Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi
Eskipara, Kheyrimli and Gyzylgajili) 'occupied' by Armenia, their
belonging to Azerbaijan is indisputable, and they are subject to
immediate return," they stated.
Baku is also confident that within the framework of the delimitation
process, "the issue of 'liberation' of four exclave villages (Yukhary
Askipara, Sofulu, Barkhudarlu in the Armenian Tavush, as well as
Kyarki (Armenian - Tigranashen) in the Ararat region, on the border
with Nakhijevan) will be resolved." At the same time, Baku denied the
statements of the Armenian authorities that Azerbaijan occupied the
territory of 31 Armenian settlements in five regions with a total
area of about 200 square kilometers, calling it "an unfounded
statement." Some of them came under the control of Azerbaijan back in
the 1990s during the first Karabakh war, others as a result of
Azerbaijani aggression in 2021-2022.
