ArmInfo.From the very beginning Armenia's authorities correctly interpreted Azerbaijan's messages challenging Armenia's very existence, which is the major reason why the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still remains unsettled, Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated at a Cabinet meeting on March 23.
"The only message contained in Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statement in Talish. He literally said that Armenia must accept Baku's terms, agree to border delimitation on Azerbaijan's terms; otherwise, no peace agreement will be signed. It cannot be called other than an act of aggression against Armenia, a gross violation of the top-level agreements," the premier said.
Mr Pashinyan recalled the Statement following the quadrilateral meeting between President Aliyev, Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Macron and President Michel, 6 October 2022, which reads that "Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and the Alma Ata 1991 Declaration through which both recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. They confirmed it would be a basis for the work of the border delimitation commissions."
A similar statement was approved following the Putin-Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting in Sochi, on October 31, 2022.
Even after the statements were approved, Baku continued speaking of some "historical maps" and border delimitation based on them, which is absolutely unacceptable for the simple reason that it is in conflict with the written top-level agreements. Given this fact, Yerevan keeps on insisting on the importance and international mechanism for dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert.
Azerbaijan's unpunished violations only encourage it to commit further ones. Evidence thereof is "the latest monstrous provocation, when a sniper killed Armenian serviceman Arshak Sargsyan."
"I would like to draw the international community's attention to the fact that Azerbaijan is escalating the situation again. At the government level, Azerbaijan is trying to justify it with an absurd discourse on the so-called 'Western Azerbaijan', which is an overt claim on Armenia's sovereign territory," Mr Pashinyan said.