The developments taking place along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have multiple layers and pretexts, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a Q&A session at the National Assembly.

He noted that “it is important to correctly perceive and interpret those pretexts.”

“In December 2020, we carried out a process of aligning the positions of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia with the borders inherited from the Soviet Union. And that process was done to avoid a new military escalation,” the Prime Minister said.

In this context PM Pashinyan reminded about the Law on Administrative Territorial Division adopted by the National Assembly in 2010, which, he said, clearly stipulated that the administrative borders of the villages of Shurnukh and Vorotan correspond to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

“In this case I should state that this reality, as well as the Soviet-era administrative border between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan later turned into a state border. This reality has been accepted as a ground. Now, by the same logic, the Goris-Kapan highway crosses the administrative border of the Republic of Armenia or Soviet Armenia in two places. And it is due to this circumstance that the well-known signs and bases appeared on the roads.

The Prime Minister reminded that in December 2020, an agreement was reached that this road could be used for the transit of goods and vehicles of the Republic of Armenia.

“I suppose that since there was no mention of foreign cargoes in that agreement, Azerbaijan probably uses that measure in response to our statements that both the November 9th and January 11th trilateral statements do not provide for any corridor through the territory of Armenia. While accepting that the regional communication routes should be opened, the Republic of Armenia states that when crossing the territory of the Republic of Armenia, foreign goods, including those from the western regions of Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan, must cross customs, passport and other checkpoints, as defined by the legal framework providing transport communication between the CIS countries,” PM Pashinyan stated.

Referring to the use of Azerbaijani names of Eyvazli and Chaizami, the Prime Minister noted: “It has been done for a simple reason to make it clear for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia that the areas in question are not in the territory of the Republic of Armenia or the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, but outside that territory, which Armenia accepted under the Law on Administrative Territorial Division in 2010.”