New Risks for Armenia: No Map to Guarantee Territorial Integrity - Surenyants

The pre-signed text of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agreement contains landmines. At its core, there is no map to guarantee recognition of Armenia's territorial integrity. This opens the door to uncertainty and new territorial claims, writes political scientist Suren Surenyants.

“Articles 1 and 6 - mutual recognition declarations, but delimitation is left for future negotiations. This means that ‘recognition’ becomes conditional. Article 7 - prohibits the deployment of third-party forces along the border. This imposes a unilateral restriction on Armenia's defense capabilities, whereas Azerbaijan already has the support of Turkey. Articles 8 and 9 - vague formulations of ‘separatism’ and ‘extremism’ legitimize the ongoing proceedings against the leadership of Artsakh in Baku and enable new demands to be made against Armenia. Article 15 - stipulates the withdrawal of all claims from international courts and the obligation not to file new cases in the future. Armenia loses its legal protection in international platforms. This agreement, without a map, clear borders, and security guarantees, does not ensure peace but creates new legal and security risks for Armenia,” he wrote.