EAFJD: Constant concessions cannot stop Azerbaijani maximalism

ArmInfo.The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) vehemently condemns  Azerbaijan's expansionist policies towards the Republic of Armenia, whereas currently the focus is on the Tavush region.

The statement received by ArmInfo indicates, in particular:   Azerbaijan's unwarranted territorial claims, including those on  Armenia's Tavush region and the so-called enclaves, as well as its  insistence on extraterritorial transport links through Armenia's  Syunik region, are utterly unacceptable.

While refusing to withdraw its forces from more than 200 square  kilometers of  the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia it  occupies since 2021, Azerbaijan is now putting pressure on the  Republic of Armenia to take control of a strategic territory in the  Tavush region of Armenia. Thus, under the guise of  "delimitation and  demarcation" Azerbaijan is enforcing a land grab which will further  aggravate the vulnerability of Armenia.

If Azerbaijan takes control of the territory of strategic importance  in the Tavush region of Armenia, this will massively endanger  Armenia's interstate connection with Georgia, a vital gas pipeline  for Armenia and will encircle a number of Armenian villages, which  will inevitably lead to their depopulation. Apart from this, it will  jeopardize the security of the Armenian region of Lori.  

Despite engaging in the process, the Armenian Prime Minister has  declared that this creates no solid security guarantees against a  possible aggression by Azerbaijan. Thus, the current actions of the  Armenian government, carried out without any guarantee of reaching a  durable and dignified peace, constitute a further capitulation and  are in violation of the Armenian Constitution. Furthermore, it would  allow Azerbaijan to carry out a new aggression from better positions.   We are deeply convinced that Azerbaijan's aggressive stance is  beacause of the fact that Azerbaijan has not been held accountable  for its genocidal policy in Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh, for the ethnic  cleansing it committed towards the indigenous Armenian population of  Nagorno Karabakh.

The EAFJD calls on all the major actors involved, including the USA,  EU and Russia to hold the Azerbaijani oil dictatorship responsible  for its ongoing fascists policy towards Armenia and Armenians. As a  European grassroots organization, the EAFJD deplores the double  standards the EU executive has demonstrated towards the Azerbaijani  dictatorship.  The EAFJD is convinced that that the continuous  concessions from Armenia will fail to suppress Azerbaijan's appetite,   while the latter continues to propagate for the idea of so-called  Western Azerbaijan, which entails the appropriation of almost the  entire territory of the Republic of Armenia.  A united and solid  resistance based on tangible force and consequences for Azerbaijan,  are currently the only factors  that can contain the Azerbaijani  dictatorship and its expansionist agenda," the EAFJD concluded.    

On April 19, the commissions for demarcation of the border between  Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to begin demarcation of the border from  the Tavush region. According to them, the description of these  sections of the border line will be drawn up taking into account the  clarification of the coordinates that will be obtained as a result of  geodetic measurements on the ground. All this will be documented in  the appropriate protocol description, which must be agreed upon and  signed between the parties before May 15 of this year. Let us add  that in this area, Armenia is unilaterally surrendering the country's  sovereign territories, fixed by the same Alma-Ata Declaration,  without receiving anything in return, including guarantees of  non-aggression. People are simply thrown out of their homes in a  number of border villages in order to pacify Azerbaijan, depriving  them of the opportunity to visit the graves of their ancestors,  cultivate their lands, pray in their churches and simply live in  safety. And the greetings of a number of countries, according to  experts, in the current conditions look, to put it mildly,  blasphemous.