Azerbaijan Intends to Incite New Military Clashes, Says Nikol Pashinyan

According to unofficial sources, Azerbaijan intends to incite new military clashes in Artsakh and along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. This was announced today by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after negotiations with Charles Michel, the President of the European Council.

According to him, this is reflected in the incidents provoked by Azerbaijan in the Nakhichevan section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. “The incidents provoked by Azerbaijan do not allow for the commencement of works aimed at the delimitation and demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” noted Pashinyan.

He emphasized that in the negotiations with Charles Michel, the immediate and unconditional return of prisoners of war, captives, and other detained persons held in Azerbaijan was highlighted as a top priority, in accordance with international humanitarian law and the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020.

Pashinyan stressed that Azerbaijan's practice of not returning prisoners of war, captives, and other detained persons is not the only case of its violation of the trilateral statement. He reminded that the trilateral statement also provides for the unblocking of all transport and economic infrastructures in the region.

“Azerbaijan is obstructing this process not only with obvious threats to occupy the sovereign territory of Armenia but also, contrary to its obligations, is refusing to provide a corridor to Armenia for the operation of the Armenia-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Russia railway. As we have said before, Armenia will consistently and constructively work towards the unblocking of regional communications, restoring previously existing communication routes, and constructing new ones, particularly the North-South highway, where the support of the European Union is of utmost importance,” announced Pashinyan.

Summarizing the negotiations with European Council President Charles Michel, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described the talks as “effective” and “constructive.” According to him, ideas were exchanged regarding the active cooperation between Armenia and the European Union, joint projects, and questions related to the further development of relations. He emphasized that this is already the second meeting in the last one and a half months.

Pashinyan specifically highlighted that the contacts between Armenia and the European Union have never been as close as they are now, which undoubtedly indicates a mutual commitment to developing relations. He noted that the discussions focused on current and future projects. In this context, the importance of ensuring conditions for the implementation of joint projects was emphasized, and challenges that arose during 2020, including the coronavirus pandemic and Azerbaijan's aggressive war against Artsakh and its consequences, were also addressed.