Baku Responds to Pashinyan's Statements

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated today that the Armenian side "does not refrain from political manipulation and distorted interpretations," referencing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's interview with Public Television yesterday. Reiterating Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's earlier assertion that there are significant opportunities for establishing peace after September 20, the Azerbaijani Ministry emphasized, "We expect that Armenia will refrain from interference and territorial claims against our country and other neighbors."

Yesterday, Pashinyan stated that Azerbaijan is raising issues regarding 8 villages, adding that Armenia also has problems with 8 villages. "Because in the same Tavush region, we have territories occupied by Azerbaijan, including the villages of Berkaber, Aygehovit, Vazashen, and Paravakar, among others. We proposed a solution to this issue back in 2021 and said, let's determine what the delimitation map is and draw back the troops from that boundary line in a mirror-like manner," the Prime Minister said.

The official Baku labeled as “absolute lies” Pashinyan’s claims that Azerbaijan has occupied several Armenian villages. "With this, Yerevan seeks to justify the occupation of 8 Azerbaijani villages. Armenia, contrary to all norms and principles of international law, as well as violating international humanitarian law, has occupied 8 villages of Azerbaijan," the statement read.

Regarding the issue of delimitation, the Prime Minister mentioned, for example, using maps from 1975 as a basis. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that the 1975 map referenced by Armenia does not exist. "In general, based on experience, the delimitation process is not conducted solely based on maps. And for these maps to be cited, they must be based on international legal documents, including those approved in one way or another by both countries. Due to its territorial claims, Armenia has yet to delimit its borders with any of its neighbors, and the assertion that delimitation should be carried out solely based on one map, as Armenia claims, contradicts any logic," the statement further noted.

It is worth recalling that we had previously reported that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had addressed the topic of enclaves.