No PM can abandon restoration of territorial integrity – Pashinyan on border delimitation, enclaves
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No prime minister can abandon the agenda of restoring Armenia’s territorial integrity, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday.
“No representative of Armenia, including the Prime Minister, can renounce the agenda of restoring Armenia’s territorial integrity,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press briefing, referring to his recent Facebook post about the need to restore sovereignty - through border delimitation - over the exclave of Artsvashen and other sovereign territories of Armenia occupied by Azerbaijan.
Regarding the method for restoring Armenia’s territorial integrity, the Prime Minister emphasized that it must be done through border delimitation. Armenia remains committed to its obligations and rules out any use of force, he said.
“As a result of border delimitation, the outline of the countries’ territorial integrity should be reaffirmed based on the Alma-Ata Declaration. Once the outline of territorial integrity is established, all possible combinations and variations will then be discussed,” the Prime Minister said.
Addressing assumptions that alternative approaches could be more suitable regarding Artsvashen, Pashinyan said: “No one can pursue another scenario without the expressed will of the people of Armenia. If we are talking about territory exchanges, it is clear that this cannot happen without the position of Armenian citizens. Moreover, this is the legal assessment at present. Even if we are not talking about a direct referendum, it simply cannot happen without the consent of the Armenian people.”
Regarding the border delimitation process, the Prime Minister noted that there is a de jure legally binding document—the regulation for the joint activity of the border delimitation commissions of the two countries—and that work must proceed within that framework.
He added that, as for scenarios involving enclaves and exclaves, there is currently no specific agreement with Azerbaijan.
Artsvashen has been occupied by Azerbaijan since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.