‘Armenia has the right to defend its borders,’ Swiss lawmaker rejects Baku’s groundless accusations

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has the right to defend its borders, and if international partners help it to do so, it is in the spirit of international law, Swiss Member of Parliament Stefan Müller-Altermatt told Armenpress when asked to comment on Baku’s discontent over Armenia acquiring arms. 

In a recent interview, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia is not engaged in an arms race with any country, and it is acquiring armaments exclusively for defending its territorial integrity. Stefan Müller-Altermatt said the Armenian leader’s remarks are correct.

“These statements by Aliyev should also be analyzed from an Azerbaijani domestic perspective: Aliyev's constant aim must be to keep Armenia small in order to make his people believe that they are superior thanks to their leader. In this respect, Prime Minister Pashinyan's statement is correct: Armenia has the right to defend its borders, and if international partners help it to do so, it is in the spirit of international law. After all, national borders should be defended on the basis of international law, not the law of the strongest and most brutal," the Swiss MP said. 

Speaking about the probability of renewed escalation in the region, the Swiss legislator said that the risk of escalation will remain without security guarantees from the West.

“Without security guarantees from the West, this danger of escalation will unfortunately remain - and not just because of Azerbaijan,” the MEP said, pointing out geopolitical developments.

“Armenia chose freedom in 2018,” Stefan Müller-Altermatt said, referring to the Velvet Revolution. “And you can see what Putin does with states that opt out of his kleptocratic system: he attacks them with a hybrid war. This is what happened in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. And it will continue to happen in Armenia, albeit via Azerbaijan, whose autocratic system is drawing it ever closer to Moscow".