Nikol Pashinyan: Armenia ready to recognize territorial integrity of Azerbaijan

Baku/13.04.22/Turan: Armenia accepts five principles of the settlement proposed by Azerbaijan. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his speech in the parliament on April 13.

These include mutual recognition and respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders; absence of territorial claims to each other and obligation not to make them in the future; obligation not to threaten by force territorial integrity or political independence; delimitation and demarcation of borders and establishment of diplomatic relations; unblocking transport and other communications, creation of new communications and cooperation in other areas of great importance for Armenia.

"We promptly discussed these proposals and acknowledged that there was nothing in them unacceptable to Armenia, especially since de jure Armenia recognized the territorial integrity and inviolability of Azerbaijan's borders by ratifying the CIS formation agreement back in 1992.

We have stated that Armenia has never had territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and the Karabakh issue is not a territorial one, but the legal one. That is why we stated that guarantees of Karabakh Armenians' security, protection of their rights and freedoms and clarification of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh are of paramount importance for Armenia," Pashinyan said.

According to him, Armenia is ready for peaceful negotiations and this position was stated at the last meeting in Brussels. He then made the crucial remark that if earlier Armenia considered Karabakh's status and security guarantees as the main issue, now the main issue is security guarantees for Karabakh Armenians.

"In other words, we declare that status in this situation is not a goal, but a means to ensure the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan said.

Armenia is advocating the earliest possible signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. "At a meeting in Brussels, I agreed that the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will start preparing a peace agreement. The early signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan is in our plans," he said adding immediately that Azerbaijan would try "to bring the peace talks to a standstill and use it as an excuse for new aggression."

Pashinyan expressed a similar stance on the issue of border delimitation. "We do not rule out that Azerbaijan will use this process to advance territorial claims against Armenia," he said. -02D-