No specific agreements on enclaves with Azerbaijan yet - Armenian  premier 

ArmInfo.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan commented on his recent social media post, which stated that as a result of the border delimitation with Azerbaijan, Armenia must return Artsvashen and other occupied sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia.

"No representative of Armenia, no prime minister, can abandon the  agenda of restoring Armenia's territorial integrity. And this fact  confirms the obvious," Pashinyan told journalists on November 12.

At the same time, he emphasized, Armenia rules out any use of force  in restoring territorial integrity; this will be done solely  following the delimitation process.

"Armenia is committed to its written commitments and rules out any  use of force. The delimitation process must reaffirm the territorial  integrity of the two countries based on the Alma-Ata Declaration.  After that, all possible combinations and variations will be  discussed," the prime minister said.

He noted that discussions are underway regarding, for example, the  better option in the Artsvashen case.  "No one can agree to a  different scenario without the expressed will of the Armenian people.  If we're talking about a territorial exchange, it's obvious that  without the position of Armenian citizens, this is impossible.  Moreover, this is the current assessment of lawyers. Even if we're  not talking about a direct referendum, without the consent of  Armenian citizens, this is simply impossible," Pashinyan stated.

Regarding the delimitation process, the Prime Minister noted that  there is a legal document with supreme legal force-the Regulation on  the Joint Activities of the Demarcation Commissions of the Two  Countries-and the work must proceed within its framework. He stated  that there are no specific agreements with Azerbaijan on scenarios  related to the enclaves.

The Azerbaijani enclaves in Armenia are located in the Tavush and  Ararat regions. These are the villages of Baganis-Ayrum, Nerkin  Voskepar (Ashagi Askipara), Verin Voskepar (Yukhary Askipara),  Barkhudarli, Sofulu, and Tigranashen (Karki). These settlements were  ceded to Armenia as a result of military action in the 1990s, during  the First Karabakh War. The village of Artsvashen, in turn, came  under the control of Baku.

Many Armenian experts have repeatedly warned of the dangers of  exchanging enclaves between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It was noted that  the transfer of the enclaves would cause Yerevan serious problems  with interstate roads. Specifically, this concerns one enclave in the  Ararat region (Tigranashen), where the M2 interstate highway, linking  the south and north of the country and Armenia with Iran, passes, and  two in the Tavush region. A similar situation exists in the  northeast, in the Tavush region, along a very difficult, winding  section with two former enclaves. The interstate highway linking  Armenia with Georgia passes through Ijevan, Noyemberyan, and  Bagratashen.

Meanwhile, Artsvashen is slightly smaller in area than the combined  territory of the three aforementioned enclaves, but occupies no  strategic territory; on the contrary, it is completely surrounded by  Azerbaijani territory.