Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on mutual recognition of territorial integrity. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this on the sidelines of the EAEU summit, TASS reports.
“On this basis, we are making good progress towards the settlement of our relations,” he said.
Pashinyan also recalled that it is important to ensure the rights and security of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) “within the framework of the international mechanism.” He also expressed hope that “a normal, constructive dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert (the capital of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, NKR) will begin in a short time.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku now has no territorial claims against Armenia.
“There is a possibility of reaching a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan, especially considering that Armenia has officially recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said.
According to him, there are serious prerequisites for the normalization of relations between the two states.
Skirmish at the summit
According to RIA Novosti, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan also “arranged a skirmish at the EAEU summit in Moscow.” The reason for this was the term “Zangezur corridor” used by Aliyev – according to Pashinyan, this phrase “serves to express territorial claims” against Armenia.
The Prime Minister recalled that the trilateral statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan refers to only one corridor – Lachin, which connects Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. In response, Aliyev stated that the corridor between Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Republic, which should run through the territory of Armenia, is not an encroachment on its territory.
“I want to say that we have no such [territorial] claims [to Armenia]. As for the word “corridor” that I used, just as I used [it] in relation to the North-South corridor, in the same way this word is used in relation to the East-West corridor. The name “corridor” is in no way an encroachment on someone’s territory. This is an international term, ”TASS quoted him as saying.
In addition, Pashinyan and Aliyev did not agree on the issue of the functioning of the Lachin corridor. The Prime Minister of Armenia stressed that this corridor was blocked, which Aliyev did not agree with.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the eve of the trilateral meeting with Pashinyan and Aliyev, said that he hopes for a successful discussion and overcoming of contradictions.
“I hope that we will be able to agree on what is quite obvious in the sphere of economic development interests for both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and for the entire region. It seems to me that we will have time in a trilateral format to discuss all this in detail,” he said.close 100%
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin during trilateral talks on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, January 11, 2021Mikhail Klimentiev/RIA Novosti
Putin also stressed that the fundamental agreements between Baku and Yerevan on the issue of territorial integrity are important. Consequently, he added, consensus could also be reached on secondary issues.
The President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), Arayik Harutyunyan, called on the Armenian authorities to refrain from any actions and statements “on recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.”
“Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) was not and will not be part of Azerbaijan, because this is the will of our people, who have enough determination to fight for their rights and interests. I am sure that the fighter is not alone, and not only the whole of Armenia will continue to support our struggle, but there will also be valuable supporters in the international arena. Yes, the situation is complicated, but not hopeless, and the authorities of Artsakh are taking and will continue to take possible practical steps to counter external and internal challenges,” Harutyunyan said.
In addition, he refused to recognize the legitimacy of the decision of the Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan on his readiness to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan with the territory of Karabakh.
Earlier, Nikol Pashinyan stressed that it is necessary to create guarantees that will exclude the “continuation of the policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide” against the Armenians living in the region. In addition, he added, Armenia is ready to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, provided that the security of the Armenian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is ensured.
“Intensive negotiations are underway on an agreement on establishing peace and relations with Azerbaijan, and we hope to reach an agreement on the text as soon as possible and sign it,” Pashinyan said.
The signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia is inevitable, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev soon announced.
“We believe that the signing of a peace agreement is inevitable and we are trying, on our part, to make constructive efforts to achieve this goal,” Aliyev said. The President of Azerbaijan stressed that the peace agreement should cover “international principles and norms.”
According to Nikol Pashinyan, the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border should be carried out on the basis of maps of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces of 1975.
“Maps can and should become the basis for carrying out work on delimitation. This also implies the agreement reached in Prague on October 6, 2022 on the recognition by Armenia and Azerbaijan of the territorial integrity of each other and the delimitation in accordance with the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991,” the Armenian leader said.close 100%
Russian peacekeeper in Nagorno-KarabakhMaxim Blinov/RIA Novosti
According to Pashinyan, 86.6 thousand square meters. km. territories of Azerbaijan (including Nagorno-Karabakh) are ready to recognize the Armenian authorities. Pashinyan added that the Armenian side is sure that Azerbaijan, in turn, will recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia with an area of 29.8 thousand square meters. km.