Azerbaijani Forces Must Withdraw from Armenia's Sovereign Territory: Pashinyan

Following the aggressions on May 12, 2021, and September 13, 2022, Azerbaijan occupied sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, and Azerbaijani forces must withdraw from Armenia's sovereign territory, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace.

The Prime Minister thanked the French President for reaffirming this position. He also drew the attention of the international community and the French President to the fact that the claims by Azerbaijan suggesting that there is no defined border between Armenia and Azerbaijan are disconnected from reality, as the border is neither demarcated nor delimited.

Pashinyan noted that the administrative borders existing between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan became state borders in the very first months of both countries’ existence, as both Armenia and Azerbaijan signed and ratified the agreement to establish the CIS on December 8, 1991, thereby effectively recognizing each other’s borders.

“This means that Azerbaijan’s actions cannot be assessed in any way other than as conscious aggression. As a result of the Azerbaijani occupation, the situation in our region remains tense,” he stated, adding that an international monitoring mission will be able to directly, rather than through intermediaries, investigate the situation in Armenia.

Pashinyan expressed confidence that the UN Security Council should keep this issue in focus and expects support from France as the current president of the UN Security Council on this matter. “As for long-term solutions, I believe it is necessary to mutually recognize the borders reaffirmed by the agreement of December 8, 1991, and to proceed to the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia is ready for the opening of regional communications and the construction of new communications according to the national legislation of the countries they pass through. We also emphasize the need to resolve the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, which will guarantee the rights and security of the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. I believe the commencement of discussions between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh could be beneficial,” he said, highlighting France's role in this matter as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group.