Checkpoints Established in Areas Considered to Be Part of the Republic of Azerbaijan: Speaker of Parliament

There is no such thing, as stated in the Security Council's announcement. This was said by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, during a conversation with reporters regarding whether there are areas that have come under Azerbaijan's control. He noted that there have been many speculations on this topic.

He advised removing the word 'surrender' from the vocabulary and clarified that there has been no current discussion regarding anyone surrendering anything.

“Checkpoints have been established in areas considered to be part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and they have placed checkpoints in the portions of land under their control. No settlement of the Republic of Armenia is cut off from the Republic of Armenia; there are settlements where the road has lengthened, and one road is in poor condition, which will be fixed by the end of the year,” he said.

In response to the question of how Azerbaijan can claim ownership of these areas without delimitation and demarcation, Alen Simonyan stated that we have an administrative law from 2010, which delineated these areas, as well as all maps from the Soviet era, based on which Armenia declared independence.

“We must understand whether the homeland is a virtual thing that starts with the entire mountain region or whether it is something with specific borders,” he said, adding that if it becomes clear as a result of delimitation and demarcation that Azerbaijani forces need to retreat from certain places, they will definitely retreat. He emphasized that Azerbaijan's actions do not align with the November 9 announcement and that this issue will be discussed with Russian partners.

He pointed out that the emerging military group has withdrawn through negotiations: “The four posts are not controlled by anyone, meaning there are no Azerbaijani troops there either. It is clear that for us, that is Armenian territory, and during the delimitation and demarcation process, we will prove this and take steps. I am confident they will retreat; otherwise, we may not retreat from certain places either. Yes, I am sure they will retreat,” he stated.