How much territory has Azerbaijan occupied from Armenia? A ruling party MP provides numbers

Azerbaijan aims to establish control over the Syunik region through military actions. This was stated last week in Saint Petersburg by Armen Khachatryan, the Deputy Chair of the Armenian National Assembly's Defense Committee, during a meeting of the defense committees of the CSTO member states, where he also warned about the increase of Azerbaijani armed forces backed by Turkish formations in Nakhichevan, as reported by "Azatutyun."

"Azerbaijan openly declares its claims to the sovereign territory of Armenia and is prepared to continue active military actions aimed at establishing control over the southern part of the country, specifically the Syunik region. This would allow communication to be established with the autonomous Nakhichevan region and, through it, with Turkey, thereby establishing complete control over the isolated territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. We do not rule out an increase in the combat capability of Azerbaijani armed forces due to Turkish formations, which already have their own military units in the country's Nakhichevan autonomous region, totaling more than a thousand personnel," Khachatryan said.

The Deputy Chair of the Defense Committee sharply criticized the silence and inaction of the CSTO, raising several questions regarding why the alliance is not taking any action or providing even humanitarian assistance to Armenia, while Azerbaijan has invaded the sovereign territory of a CSTO member state and has taken control of approximately 127 square kilometers of Armenia's border area during the year from 2021 to 2022.

"Why is a decision made to exclude the provision of military assistance to Armenia? Why is there no reaction to the aggression and occupation of a fellow member state’s territory, even at the level of statements? Why is Armenia's sovereign territory referred to as 'disputed territory'? Why has there been no decision by the CSTO to provide at least humanitarian assistance?" Khachatryan stressed, emphasizing that numerous "whys" have accumulated in Armenian society, and the CSTO's silent inaction and passivity, along with some allied official statements that effectively support Azerbaijan, have led to a significant portion of the Armenian public demanding withdrawal from the organization, organizing protests and rallies in the center of Yerevan.

The Deputy Chair of the parliamentary defense committee reminded of Article 4 of the CSTO treaty, which states that "if any member state is subjected to aggression, the alliance will consider it aggression against all member states. In this case, participating states are to provide military assistance." According to Khachatryan, in order to implement this provision, the CSTO must issue a condemning political statement, labeling Azerbaijan as the aggressor.