May 20 2021
Yerevan /Mediamax/. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today has spoken about the situation on the border, the ongoing efforts, and the documents that are expected to be signed.
Mediamax presents key points from Pashinyan’s remarks.
The border situation
There has been no change in the situation in Syunik and Gegharkunik. There are still a significant number of Azeri troops in different parts of Armenian territory – around 500 to 600. Our armed forces act by the following logic: through strategic actions, limit the Azeri troops’ potential for activity.
The diplomatic work
In political aspect, our task is to prevent the situation from getting out of control. That means we should do the utmost to rule out any scenario of war or clashes and achieve withdrawal of the Azeri troops. Huge diplomatic efforts have been and are still being made toward that goal.
I consider the diplomatic work done so far to be efficient and successful, because the positions of Armenia and its international partners are identical.
“Agents” and the document for signing
Azerbaijan has information agents in Armenia’s political elite. A document has been disclosed with 90% of the text concealed. The document is presented as evidence that the government is signing anti-Armenian agreements. If so, why are the lines concealed? Uncover them and show to the public. We need to figure out how these people got that working paper. My personal analysis shows that the only source can be Azerbaijan.
The solutions we have agreed with our international partners comply with Armenia’s interest for 100%. If Azerbaijan implements these agreements on the conditions we discussed, I will sign that document, because it complies with Armenia’s interest for 100%. I will not disclose the document, because that would be inappropriate. It is a working paper and negotiations are underway.
Why did Armenia appeal to CSTO in absence of armed conflict?
Every person who has read at least one paragraph in the CSTO agreements will know that the organization’s purpose is to resolve crises without shooting.
Azerbaijan’s goal
One of the goals of Baku is to incite a war in the narrowest part of Syunik and Armenia, which is approximately 26km wide. If the situation got out of control, unmanageable developments could follow. I consider our approach of settling the matter through international security mechanisms to be correct, and it is working now, but we cannot say we have achieved our goal this way. I do not rule out that Azerbaijan also aims to influence processes in Armenia’s domestic political field and the outcome of the elections.