New Territories? What Pashinyan and Aliyev Agreed Upon

According to the newspaper Hraparak, the escalation that began at the border of Armenia exactly one month after the elections is a consequence of new agreements between Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev, according to some sources.

Government sources consider it unlikely that this will lead to large-scale war. Before the elections, the prospects of handing over the Tavush enclaves and the town of Tigranakert (Jabrayil) to Azerbaijan, as well as the start of road construction in Meghri and border demarcation and delimitation works, were actively discussed.

It is possible that the parties did not reach a final agreement, and Azerbaijan is trying to exert pressure to obtain what it wants. However, it is also possible that an agreement was indeed reached; Pashinyan might be hesitant to make new concessions without raising tensions, similar to how the situation escalated during the Artsakh war. He may justify future decisions by stating that if I had not made these concessions, an entire nation could have been endangered— I saved 2 million people from a large-scale war.

It is worth recalling that a remarkable tension arose last night along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the Ararat, Gegharkunik, Tavush, and Syunik regions, with the enemy even using mortars, lighting up the entire sky.

The full article can be read in the Hraparak newspaper from issue dated 21.07.21.