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Issues pertaining to enclaves and exclaves between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be resolved on legal-political basis, PM Nikol Pashinyan has said.
He told reporters that if legal grounds on exclaves and enclaves existing at the time of the adoption of Alma-Ata Declaration would emerge, then the matter would have to be faced.
“I have told the Azerbaijanis that there are no legal grounds pertaining to enclaves, they said they have and will present them. And they themselves have doubted the existence of legal grounds of Artsvashen, and we in turn have said that we will present them. Especially now these issues must be resolved on legal-political basis. We have agreed that we recognize each other’s territorial integrity based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. Now we must specify with maps and other legal grounds this territorial integrity, despite generally knowing it already, including the enclave-exclave issue. I’ve long said that we can’t abandon the exclave-enclave topic because we ourselves have that issue. Every citizen can expect us to pursue the restoration of Armenia’s territorial integrity with principle and consistently, and we will move forward with that logic,” Pashinyan said.
The joint border delimitation commissions haven’t yet addressed the topic substantially, but will have to do so at some point, he added.
“We don’t have the need to create anything new. If there is the legal ground that existed at the time of the adoption of Alma-Ata Declaration, then we have to face that fact, if there is none, then we shall face that fact too.”