When will  peace treaty be signed with Baku: Pashinyan explains

ArmInfo. " Taking into account what's happening now, taking into account what you call  aggressiveness of Azerbaijan, and this maybe the most central part, what gurantees do you have that Azerbaijan will ever respect the agreements that they discuss and negotiate with you?", the correspondent of the Italian La Repubblica newspaper asked Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Pashinyan said that it is s very difficult to come up with an  assessment. Initially, we had good progress for the reason that we  focused predominantly on items that controversies about which may not  have been so large, but the more we agreed articles, the list of  those not agreed upon includes the most difficult ones. But on the  other hand, the position and approach of our Government is that the  peace agenda should be pushed forward and we are trying to do  everything to attain real progress towards signing a peace treaty  with Azerbaijan. Here not only the process that takes place around  the negotiating table, but also the processes that take place   publicly.  Particularly, we reached an agreement with Azerbaijan  recently in Brussels, and before that we had an agreement in Prague,  which stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan by mutually recognizing each  other's territorial integrity, should sign a peace treaty. This  happened in Prague, where we agreed to make a reference to the  Alma-Ata Declaration, which establishes the following: the  constituent republics of the Soviet Union become independent states  after the collapse of the Soviet Union within the administrative  borders of the Soviet republics that existing at that point of time.  After this, the need to make it more specific emerged, the dimensions  of the states of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we in Brussels reached  an agreement that Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of  Azerbaijan with a territory of 86 thousand 600 square kilometers, and  Azerbaijan recognizes the territorial integrity of Armenia with a  territory of 29 thousand 800 square kilometers. In this respect, it  is important that this agreement has not been publicly reaffirmed by  the Azerbaijani leadership so far. What I mean is that the public  accompaniment of the peace treaty is also very important for the  process in general," Pashinyan noted.

"Do you think that giving up the control of Nagorno Karabakh to  Azerbaijan is the price to pay for peace?" the correspondent asked.

Pashinyan said that in Nagorno Karabakh the situation has always been  under the control of the authorities of Nagorno Karabakh itself. "In  any case, that has been the case since 2018, and today as well, in  Nagorno Karabakh the situation is controlled by the elected  representatives of Nagorno Karabakh. There is also the presence of  the Russian peacekeepers, so we are talking about something  completely different. If Armenia and Azerbaijan fail to recognize  each other's territorial integrity on the basis of the Alama-Ata  declaration, this will mean that there will never be peace."  Pashinyan stated.

To the remark of La Repubblica that "the position of Azerbaijan is  very clear. They consider Nagorno Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan.  They even claim that some parts of Armenia are part of Azerbaijan,  which they are also occupying. According to you, what guarantees are  there that if Nagorno Karabakh goes under the control of Azerbaijan,  Azerbaijan will stop its territorial claims from the Republic of  Armenia?"

 Pashinyan noted: "Our position is clear; the rights and security of  the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh should be ensured and there should  be guarantees for this. As for the other issue about the recognition  of territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan, if the peace  treaty does not include guarantees of that, it would be devoid of any  sense. And that is the reason why we want to have such a peace treaty  that would offer the guarantees you mentioned. On the other hand, I  would like to emphasize once again that the rights and security of  the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh should be addressed within the  framework of an international mechanism, which is also of utmost  importance for peace in our region." Pashinyan said.

"So what do you think about the position of the West and the EU  towards Armenia and towards the situation in Nagorno Karabakh,  because you say that the solution is only possible in the presence of  international guarantees. What role should the European Union play?  "asked the correspondent of the Italian newspaper.

"Of course, we see in the recent period a certain increase in the  attention on the part of the EU and the Western political circle, but  as long as the issues raised by me are not addressed, this means that  the attention is not sufficient, which does not mean that I believe  that it's the Western countries that should resolve the current  situation, not at all. This is first and foremost the issue of  Armenia, Azerbaijan, as well as Nagorno Karabakh. But on the other  hand, our international partners should exercise effective efforts to  make peace in the region possible. Of course, we are talking about  those partners, who have an earnest interest and do wish for this   peace.  But the characteristic of the contemporary world is that the  world is small and even minor events in one region may result in  global consequences. In this respect, the establishment of peace and  stability in our region is also important from the perspective of  global security." Pashinyan clarified.

"Taking into account what's happening now, taking into account what  you call aggressiveness of Azerbaijan, and this maybe the most  central part, what gurantees do you have that Azerbaijan will ever  respect the agreements that they discuss and negotiate with you?" the  correspondent of the Italian newspaper asked.

"I already mentioned that as soon as the gurantees are put in place,  that document will be signed at that very same moment. As long as  those gurantees do not exist, the signing of that document, and I  have said it publicly as well, our task is not signing a document  entitled a peace treaty, our task is to signa peace treaty which will  bring peace on the ground. That's what we are negotiating. Why is not  the document signed yet? Practically now, in the peace negotiations  we have got to the point which pertains to gurantees. That is which  could be the gurantees that in the wake of the signing of this paper  will result in peace in practice. As soon as there is an accord  around these gurantees, that means the agreement can be considered  accomplished.

"And one very last question. According to you, also personally,  because you are the Prime Minister of Armenia, but you are also the  person who is participating in these discussions. Which could be the  gurantees that you could accept in order to implement the  discussions, agreements.  Concretely, with which gurantees would  these agreements be acceptable?"

"I would paraphrase your question. What should those gurantees serve.  They should ensure first and foremost, from our perspective, and  Azerbaijan maybe from its perspective, the territorial integrity and  security of the Republic of Armenia and secondly, the launch of a  reliable dialogue in the sidelines of an international mechanism  aimed at addressing the rights and security of Armenians of Nagorno   Karabakh.  That is, there are two issues I referred to when  introducing our perception of peace architecture. First, the  agreement that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's  territorial integrity, 29.800 square kilometers and 86.600 square  kilometers, and concurrently, as a stand-alone item, the issue of  addressing the rights and security of the Armenian of Nagorno  Karabakh. The gurantees should evolve around this," concluded the  Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.