Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned OSCE PA delegates on Saturday that countries ought to plan the future to prevent future crises and clashes.
Speaking at the OSCE PA Autumn Meeting in Yerevan, PM Pashinyan said that the world will never be the same again after the crises in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“It is obvious that after the crises in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, and the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, the world will never be the same again, no one doubts this no more. But no one knows what the world of tomorrow will look like,” Pashinyan warned.
The Armenian PM said that it is extremely important to plan the future, otherwise crises and clashes could spread.
Speaking about the Armenian-Azeri peace process, the PM said there are both good news and bad news.
He said that the good news is that the main principles for peace are agreed upon, citing the May 14 and July 15 statements by President of the European Council Charles Michel.
The three principles are: reciprocal recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty, based on the understanding that Armenia’s territory covers 29.800 km2 and Azerbaijan’s 86.600 km2; commitment to the 1991 Almaty Declaration as a political framework for the delimitation of border; unblocking of regional connections under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass. There is also an understanding that both countries do not have territorial claims against each other and are ready to assume obligations not to do so in the future. “And this is the reason why we propose Azerbaijan to reciprocally pull back troops from the administrative borders of the USSR, and to address the exclave/enclave issues. The exclave of Artsvashen, a part of sovereign Armenian territory, has been under Azeri occupation for over 30 years,” Pashinyan said.
“The good news is that the main principles for peace with Azerbaijan are agreed upon. This has happened as a result of my meetings in Brussels with the Azerbaijani President under the mediation of the President of the European Council Charles Michel. These agreements are recorded in the May 14 and July 15 statements by Charles Michel following the trilateral meetings,” the Prime Minister said.
Armenia has presented its Crossroads of Peace project to ensure its share of the agreements.
Pashinyan warned however that the bad news is that Armenia and Azerbaijan still talk with different diplomatic languages and very often do not understand each other.
“Of course there are also objective reasons for this, such as the long lasting conflict, with certain historical context, thousands of victims, and it is very difficult to look into the eyes of their families, tens of prisoners, and there are no answers to the questions of their families, the prevailing atmosphere of hate for decades and the doubts that malicious intentions are concealed behind constructive statements. Moreover, in some sense what I’ve just said relates to both Armenia and Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijan, for example, hasn’t once publicly mentioned the abovementioned three principles, hasn’t reaffirmed commitment to these principles, which deepens the atmosphere of distrust,” Pashinyan said.
He also warned about the “extremely suspicious” Azeri state narrative of misrepresenting Armenia as ‘Western Azerbaijan.’
“They are teaching this concept in schools and universities, and in the media. This seems to us as preparations for a new war, new aggression against Armenia, and it is one of the main obstacles for progress in the peace process,” Pashinyan said.
The Armenian PM said that Azerbaijan’s refusal to release Armenian prisoners is incomprehensible, despite Yerevan’s proposal to resolve the matter under the ‘all for all’ principle.
Pashinyan said that Armenia is committed to the peace agenda and the peace process.
