Yes, There Is a Question of Enclaves: Pashinyan

Yes, there is a question of enclaves, but what does that question mean, where does it come from, and why does it exist? This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a live broadcast on November 24, while answering citizens' video questions.

“One of the principles of the peace treaty is that Armenia and Azerbaijan mutually recognize each other's territorial integrity based on the territories of Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. When we say Armenia's 29,800 square kilometers of territory, it does not include those enclaves that belonged to Azerbaijan during the USSR, and Arzvashen, which is an enclave surrounded by Azerbaijani territory, is included in Armenia's 29,800 square kilometers. This issue needs to be addressed in some way. Even if I wanted to, I cannot say that such an issue does not exist. Arzvashen is a sovereign territory of Armenia, and I cannot simply say that we have nothing to do with this piece of the Republic of Armenia's sovereign territory.

When we raise the issue of Arzvashen, Azerbaijan also raises the issue of those enclaves that, de jure, have existed based on Soviet maps and decisions. If we say the issue of enclaves does not exist, then we must also say that the issue of exclaves does not exist, and the issue of Arzvashen does not exist, but both issues do exist. Both of these issues should be resolved in the peace process,” said Pashinyan.

He emphasized that there are several options for resolving this issue. “For example, we reaffirm our sovereignty over Arzvashen, and Azerbaijan reaffirms its sovereignty over the de jure existing enclaves. There are many questions here. First, the territory of those exclaves must be delineated and reaffirmed. Secondly, we do not have a direct border with Arzvashen; how are we going to cross from our border to Arzvashen? Accordingly, Azerbaijan has similar questions. Many problems arise here.

There could be another solution where the enclaves that are surrounded by Armenian territory start to be considered de jure territory of the Republic of Armenia, and the territories that are surrounded by Azerbaijani territory are considered Azerbaijani territory. But this is already a specific topic for a treaty that must also be ratified by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister announced that there had been discussions about this topic in negotiations: “At this moment, there is no very specific, explicit agreement or consensus on this topic. If we are going to take action, you will know about it; we will discuss it.”

He assured that there is no option for resolving this issue where parallel solutions are not possible and thought out in place. “The tensions around this issue are much more than is worth having tension about this problem.”