Pashinyan's Response to Aliyev

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to the statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during an interview with Azerbaijani television on January 7 at the request of Armenpress.

- Mr. Prime Minister, the President of Azerbaijan has made aggressive statements against the Republic of Armenia in his interview with local television. What is your assessment?

- Perhaps Baku is trying to create a "legitimacy" for escalation in the region. Aggressive statements are made with the calculation that aggressive responses will come from Yerevan, which will allow Baku to intensify its own statements by associating this with false information about violations of the ceasefire regime by the Armenian army, thus creating a "justification" for new escalation in the region. We will not go down this path; we are committed to our strategy of peace and will consistently continue to implement the peace agenda. This means we will use the language of dialogue, not aggression.

We will remain focused on issues of delimitation, the alignment of the text of the peace treaty, the implementation of the "Peace Crossroads" project, humanitarian issues, including clarifying the fate of the missing.

- The President of Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of being a fascist state. Does this also fall into the logic you mentioned?

- Undoubtedly, because the calculation is that the response will be “you are the fascist,” and my described spiral will begin to tighten. But there is another approach: let us note that there is such a perception about Armenia in Azerbaijan and try to understand what the reason for this is. On the other hand, it is evident that there is also such a perception about Azerbaijan in the Republic of Armenia. It is these mutual perceptions that have led to years of conflict. But the strategy of peace is that we note that there exists such a perception of us in Azerbaijan, and they also note that there exists such a perception of them in Armenia. This agenda of peace is about discussing and addressing those perceptions. Some of the agreed articles of the peace treaty close the chapter on some of these perceptions, while others allow us to turn all mutual negative perceptions into a bilateral agenda and address them. I should also add that we have proposed solutions regarding two unresolved articles of the Peace Treaty and are ready to sign the treaty upon receiving a positive response from Azerbaijan.

- The President of Azerbaijan again spoke about the corridor, stating that it must be opened and will be opened. What does this mean?

- The Republic of Armenia has put the "Peace Crossroads" project on the table and is prepared to implement it; we do not have other projects on our agenda. The "Peace Crossroads" implies the opening of all transport communications in the region, including Azerbaijan-Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia and Armenia-Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan. I have already had the opportunity to announce that we have made a very specific proposal to Azerbaijan to open the Yeraskh-Sadaraq-Ortubad-Mejr-Mughen railway. This is more than a proposal; it is a specific solution to specific issues, and we are waiting for a positive response from Azerbaijan, after which an agreement will be recorded on paper, and we will begin construction of the segments of the railway.

- The President of Azerbaijan has again discussed the armament of the Republic of Armenia, arguing that it will only bring new tension to the region...

- I have addressed this topic multiple times. There is no element of illegitimacy in the reform agenda of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. I must reiterate that the Republic of Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of all its neighbors, including Azerbaijan, and expects the same clear and unconditional acknowledgment of the territorial integrity of Armenia from Azerbaijan. I have also stated that we do not set the problem of restoring the more than 200 square kilometers of occupied territories of the Republic of Armenia through military means because the process of delimitation gives us the opportunity to address this issue peacefully and through negotiations. By this record, no one can dispute the right of the Republic of Armenia to have a defendable army. As for concerns related to armament, we also have concerns regarding Azerbaijan's armament, and we have also heard their concerns. This is why we have proposed establishing mutual control mechanisms over armaments to Azerbaijan and are waiting for their response.

- In recent days, Azerbaijan has repeatedly disseminated information alleging that the Armenian army has violated the ceasefire regime along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, which Armenia’s Ministry of Defense has denied, recalling the proposal to create a joint mechanism for investigating violations of the ceasefire regime.

- Of course, the information about a violation of the ceasefire by our army does not correspond to reality. However, to prevent such situations from becoming a reason for periodic disputes, we have proposed to establish a joint mechanism to jointly verify every alarm regarding violations of the ceasefire regime and to reach joint conclusions. We await Azerbaijan's response.

- Ilham Aliyev also mentioned that the next meeting of the delimitation commissions will take place in January.

- Yes, a meeting is planned for January. I am confident that the positive experience of delimitation in 2024 should be developed in a calm, working environment. We are committed to such work.