14:43, 9 October 2023
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani narrative that it has enclaves inside Armenia is void of any legal grounds, cartographer Ruben Galichyan has said.
Azerbaijan itself has stated in its independence declaration that it is the successor of the 1918-1920 Azerbaijan, and back then no enclaves existed.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has again falsely claimed that eight enclaves are “under Armenian occupation” which must be “liberated”.
Speaking at a press conference, Galichyan showed a 1926 Soviet map verified by the then-ministry of interior, which doesn’t show any enclaves, neither in Armenian nor Azeri territories. Furthermore, territories with an area of 1,200 square kilometers of the Armenian SSR stipulated in this map were later handed over to the Azeri SSR. The Aghavno River was the only division line between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh by that map. More adjacent areas where then handed over to Azeri control.
Moreover, a 1932 map also shows no enclaves.
These enclaves first appeared in a 1940 map, two in Tavush, one in Ararat, and Artsvashen in Azerbaijan. Although these enclaves were drawn up, no documents pertaining to these areas exist, i.e., there’s no legal ground proving their stipulation.
And despite this, in 2014 Azerbaijan published an atlas, showing enclaves located in Armenian territory, but without any note of Artsvashen.
“Two years ago, the Azeri foreign ministry said that if Armenia claims the enclaves to be its territory it should present an official document. But basically, this is a contrary approach, because since these territories are within Armenia, thus they belong to Armenia. And if Azerbaijan has any aspirations for these territories, then it is the one that should present legal grounds, which, basically, do not exist. By the way, the total area of the three enclaves located in our territory is 45 square kilometers, whereas Artsvashen alone is 44 square kilometers. Two years ago, speaking about the topic of enclaves, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke about exchanging them, which is the required path for resolving the issue,” the cartographer said.
If Azerbaijan intends to sign any treaty, it must first of all return to Armenia the territories that it captured since 2021, which include around 240 square kilometers, Galichyan said.
According to the USSR general staff, the representatives of the Armenian and Azeri SSRs ratified the maps in 1960-1970s, which was the basis for the 1991 Alma-Ata declaration. But now Azerbaijan is circulating fake maps.
The territories occupied by Azerbaijan are recognized as sovereign Armenian territory by Azerbaijan itself under the 1991 declaration.
“If the Azerbaijani side is not withdrawing from individual parts of our country’s sovereign territory, then how should we negotiate? The long-term goals of Azerbaijan are clear. If they were to have enclaves in Armenian territory, they would then demand a corridor to have land connection with the enclaves, which would have the same role as the so-called Zangezur corridor. On the other hand, it is clearly visible that the Azeri enclaves are on strategically significant highways, and if these were to be connected with Azerbaijan through [extraterritorial] corridors, Armenia would lose its direct connection with its southern provinces, and the Ijevan-Noyemberyan road would be cut off in the north,” the cartographer said.
And now Azerbaijan is hinting that it wants to take over these territories by force.
He warned that any concessions would simply make Azerbaijan want more.