Armenia already has military aid from France in the form of radars, President Macron has promised new defensive weapons. The France 24 correspondent asked Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, taking into account that Azerbaijan is stronger militarily, does this mean that Armenia should arm itself more?
"Yesterday, during the joint statement with President Macron, I also touched on this issue, because every time Azerbaijan makes noise about any of our new contract and cooperation in any of military-technical fields, but Azerbaijan does not say that it has been buying weapons worth billions for years. This is an important fact to note.
On the other hand, why is Azerbaijan worried about the reforms of the Armenian army in the conditions when it keeps the sovereign territories of Armenia under occupation, and in the conditions when we say: very well, let's reflect the border on the ground based on the Alma-Ata declaration and mutually and simultaneously withdraw troops from the border line. And that will be one of the very concrete steps for building trust.
The reform of our army should not worry anyone. Why? Because we say that we recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all our neighbors. Therefore, why should anyone be worried about reforming our army? If we recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our neighbors and reform our army and say that our army does not and will not solve any tasks outside our sovereign territory, but Azerbaijan expresses concern and makes noise against this background. This can happen only under the circumstances when Azerbaijan itself has a task to solve a problem in our sovereign territory through military means. There is no other logic. Was I able to explain the idea?" Pashinyan said.
According to Pashinyan, having an army is the sovereign right of every country.
"No country can accuse any other country of having an army. And we say that we unconditionally recognize the territorial integrity of all our neighbors, that is, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Georgia. We do not have and will not have a task to use our army outside our sovereign, internationally recognized territory. And against this background, Azerbaijan expresses concern. Why does he express concern? Does he have a problem to solve in our sovereign territory? It is also this fact, this reaction, that gives many experts a reason to assume that Azerbaijan will continue its aggressive policy.
But we also offer solutions here. We offer several solutions. One of the solutions is to reflect the border of 1991 and withdraw the troops, that is, neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan should have any equipment, firearms and soldiers in each other's sovereign territory. Secondly, we propose the demilitarization of the border zone. Third, we propose mutual arms control. In other words, if we had any desire to threaten the security of Azerbaijan, why should we make all these proposals? It is Azerbaijan that says it will keep the heights under control, no matter whose territory they are in. But it is a direct violation of our territorial integrity, implementation of an aggressive policy today and, in fact, a declaration of no intention to abandon that policy. And this is a problem," Pashinyan said.
