During an online press conference today, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan answered the question whether official Yerevan intends to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and whether it possible to achieve peace in the region in the case of Ilham Aliyev’s aggressive rhetoric.
“I would like to notice some subtleties in the perception of the statements made by Azerbaijan in the recent period, in general, for the last year, which, in my opinion, is not observed in our reality. Let us distinguish the rational and emotional aspects in those statements. Recently, an analyst made a significant observation during our discussion. He drew attention to the fact that statements from Azerbaijan are often made, which are a mirror of the statements made in Armenia after 1994.
When there was a statement from Azerbaijan that the Karabakh issue was resolved, the analyst drew my attention to the fact that for decades, decades after 1994, there were statements from Armenia and Artsakh that the Karabakh issue was resolved. There are many statements about Yerevan being an Azerbaijani city, and the analyst drew my attention to the fact that after 1994 there were many statements that Baku is an Armenian city. There is a certain element of revenge accumulated in those statements. This emotional circumstance is not useful for the processes,” Pashinyan said.
In response to the question whether Armenia will recognize or not recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister said that there were no talks about it, sometimes the talks are not understood correctly, but the following should be noted.
“There is an agreement ratified by the Armenian Parliament, which is part of Armenia’s legislation, which states that the Republic of Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of borders, and that agreement was ratified in 1992. In the same way, Azerbaijan has recognized the integrity of Armenia.
When the Madrid Principles became the basis for negotiations, one of the principles enshrined therein was the principle of territorial integrity, which both sides accepted as the basis for negotiations. De jure, Armenia and Azerbaijan have recognized the inviolability and territorial integrity of the borders since 1992, moreover, within the borders and territories existing in the CIS, however, many nuances of the problem are not solved.
I want to look at the issues in a rational field. There is a lot of talk about signing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Yes, but before that document is signed, it must be formulated, created. But it is the result of negotiations, and we believe that those negotiations should take place, and Armenia is ready for those negotiations. Moreover, the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, mandated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, was aimed at signing a peace treaty. In fact, all these discussions that are taking place are to solve those problems,” said Nikol Pashinyan.
