When the enclaves are given, Kiran, Voskepar, and Baghanis villages will be emptied, Azerbaijan will exit the gas pipeline and Lori: Bagratyan

“These are just the flowers, the lands opposite are yet to come. What will happen once the enclaves are handed over?” said economist and former Prime Minister of Armenia Hrant Bagratyan during a conversation with reporters at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, referring to the delimitation process and the actions to hand over four villages in Tavush to Azerbaijan.

“After giving away those lands, I am now thinking about how we will keep Kiran, Voskepar, and Baghanis villages; they will be emptied, and the enemy will have to exit over the gas pipeline on the railway. There is an enclave behind Voskepar, and right after handing over that enclave, they will exit over the railway and onto the region of Lori. A prominent representative of the Nikol government once said, ‘Let them blow up the gas pipeline; we will restore it again, as they did in the ‘90s.’ Have they restored it then?” he added.

Referring to the delimitation process, Bagratyan stated, “There is no column in delimitation. Delimitation and demarcation processes do not involve a column.”

Addressing the points in the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration regarding borders, Bagratyan noted, “The declaration states that the parties recognize the territories that existed during the Soviet Union period. During the Soviet Union, the same enclave or Upper Voskepar was signed and given by Azerbaijan to us in 1996-97. There was an issue of border adjustments during the Soviet Union period; Azerbaijanis had a high demographic growth and penetrated into the mountains, asking to engage in livestock breeding, and eventually set up tents there. Ultimately, in the 1970s, Armenia raised the question that around 2000 square kilometers had been occupied, and the Azerbaijani leadership presented that as their territory on its maps. After two years of work, it was decided that at least 900 square kilometers should be returned to Armenia, and Armenia’s objective territory should become 30,707 square kilometers. There is Azerbaijan’s signature under the documents of 1986-87. If Alma-Ata says that we should return to the Soviet borders, then it should work in our favor.”