ArmInfo. Azerbaijan is raising the issue of 4 villages, and Armenia is announcing 32 villages, the vital territories of which are occupied, including in the Gegharkunik region, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a meeting of the action group of the Civil Contract party in Gavar.
Pashinyan pointed out that since Armenia is committed to mutual recognition of territorial integrity in accordance with the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, it declares that there should be no occupied territories on both sides. Consequently, if it turns out that Armenia de jure controls the territories that belong to Azerbaijan, then it must leave these territories, and Azerbaijan must withdraw from those territories that are under its control and de jure belong to Armenia. However, this political agreement cannot be implemented in practice without a mutually agreed upon map, the premier stated.
"The only option is to rely on the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 and the maps that de jure express its provisions. Otherwise, a situation arises that will constantly lead to escalations, which cannot be the basis for peace. And we reiterate that we are ready to follow this path," Pashinyan said.
He recalled that Artsvashen has been occupied for 30 years, and Armenia constantly talks about the need for its return.
According to him, in order to specify the status of enclaves and exclaves, it is necessary to determine the coordinates on the map and physically mark the border lines, based on legal principles.
The other day, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev once again made territorial claims against Armenia and started talking about 8 villages. "The issue of eight villages is constantly on the agenda.
This issue is being discussed during my contacts with the Prime Minister of Armenia, including during a conversation "on our feet" in St. Petersburg, I raised this issue. It is also on the agenda of the Delimitation Commission," Aliyev said. He noted that the next meeting of the commissions on delimitation and demarcation of the state border is scheduled for this month and "there will be one topic: the issue of delimitation of this region, the Gazakh-Tovuz region."