ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has commented on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statement that the border delimitation and demarcation process with Armenia will be based on maps dated to 1918 to 1991, the year the USSR disintegration. Aliyev claimed that some maps dated to 1918-1920 show Yerevan and Syunik as part of Azerbaijan.
"We do not object to cartography. But why should we restrict ourselves to the 20th century? We could start with maps drawn in Babylon in the 6th century BCE, or by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, or by Strabo in the 1st century CE, or by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century, or by Pliny the Elder during the same period – and continue with numerous Latin, Byzantine, Arab, and other geographical descriptions and maps of later periods. Armenia has no fear of not finding itself on those maps," Mr Mirzoyan said in an interview with the Armenpress news agency.
However, being interested in the effective work of the forthcoming Commission on demarcation and border security, the Republic of Armenia believes that this work should be based on maps that are accepted by both sides and have legal force.