A military post along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday warned that Azerbaijan is planning to lay claim on more sovereign Armenian territory, saying Baku is dragging its feet on recognizing Armenia’s territorial integrity.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Pashinyan referred to remarks made by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan who told Euronews this week that borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan have not been determined.

“The borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan were decided in 1991 by the Almaty Declaration and that was reaffirmed on October 6, 2022 as a result of the quadrilateral meeting in Prague during which the Almaty Declaration was adopted as the basis for the delimitation and demarcation of the borders between the two countries,” Pashinyan said.

“It is evident that Azerbaijan is planning to sign a peace treaty with clauses that leave room for disputing the Armenian-Azerbaijani border fixed by the Almaty Declaration and to make territorial claims from Armenia later on, during the delimitation and demarcation process,” added Pashinyan.

“The delimitation and demarcation of borders attests not to the absence of borders, but on the contrary, to their definition, meaning, the reiteration of the administrative borders between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse, and its reflection on the ground as a state border,” Pashinyan said. 

The prime minister said that he believes there is a chance for sustainable peace and called on Baku to end its efforts to undermine the process, including urging Azerbaijan to allow the delivery of 400 tons of humanitarian assistance provided by Armenia to Artsakh.

“Despite all difficulties, we really do have a chance of achieving long-term, sustainable and lasting peace. And I call on Azerbaijan to refrain from taking steps aimed at decreasing this chance, for example the continuous torpedoing of Stepanakert-Baku dialogue within the framework of an international mechanism, the illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor and the kidnapping of Vagif Khachatryan, who was being transported by the ICRC to Yerevan, from Lachin Corridor earlier this week,” Pashinyan said, adding that releasing Khachatryan and other Armenian prisoners of war would signal Azerbaijan’s commitment to the peace process.

He again accused Azerbaijan of violating the November 9, 2020 agreement and urged Baku to stop blocking the delivery of humanitarian assistance, currently stranded at the Hakari Bridge for more than a week.

“I call on Baku to unblock the access of the humanitarian goods sent by Armenia through the Lachin Corridor, as a step toward its commitment to the peace agenda, moreover because obstructing the passage of the goods is a gross violation of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement and the decisions of the International Court of Justice,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan pointed to Aliyev’s recent recent statement in an interview with Euronews, where he again falsely claimed that the Lachin Corridor is open. Pashinyan said that the Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh ought to comment on this statement, as to why the Russian peacekeepers are failing to ensure the humanitarian convoy’s access to Nagorno-Karabakh if Azerbaijan insists the corridor to be open.

“I believe that an explanation of this issue is important and our relevant bodies must work to receive explanations about this matter this matter,” Pashinyan said.