Pashinyan warns against highly dangerous narrative of abandoning Soviet maps in delimitation

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned that rejecting the USSR maps for delimitation could be highly dangerous.

Pashinyan released a statement on social media dismissing arguments claiming that conducting delimitation of borders with Azerbaijan on the basis of Soviet maps is unacceptable.

“[They] speak about the unacceptability of the maps of a non-existent country, the USSR. I have to say this directly, this approach is highly dangerous for Armenia because abandoning the maps of the USSR era could mean abandoning statehood and independence because we gained independence on the territory of Soviet Armenia and the international community recognized us as such. Remaining committed to our internationally recognized territory is an important security buffer for us.

I’ve said several times in my public speeches, that if, we ourselves don’t accurately recognize our internationally recognized territory we give the opportunity to others to not recognize it too, moreover by citing us. By not accurately recognizing our internationally recognized territory we open our gates for others,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister once again denied allegations that the government has given up sovereign Armenian territory near Kirants village during the delimitation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He said the delimitation simply fixed the border and no sovereign territory was given up. “We fixed our gate, the border of our state, and I consider this a success story, a breakthrough. Go to Kirants and you’ll see that success with your own eyes,” Pashinyan added.

Regarding the several contentious property ownership certificates held by locals in Kirants, the prime minister said the government has investigated the legal grounds of these documents and nothing was found, thus they assume that they were issued illegally.

“Unfortunately, such practice isn’t rare in Armenia. Law enforcement agencies are now dealing with the contentious cadastre certificates of Kirants, thus I won’t make more comments. Don’t forget one more fact, at that time all these territories, both Kirants and Kheyrimli, were part of the same state, residents of both villages carried the same passport and so on. And by the way, no one has terrorized anyone in Kirants. We had a direct, honest conversation with the people, without any ruse or tricks. And a part of this [conversation] was broadcast live,” Pashinyan said.