Citing 1991 Almaty Declaration, Pashinyan denies Aliyev’s claim on undefined borders

 11:57, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has denied Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s claim that the border between the countries is undefined.

“The borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan were defined under the 1991 Almaty Declaration, and this was reiterated during the 6 October 2022 quadrilateral meeting in Prague, where the Almaty Declaration was adopted as the foundation for delimitation and demarcation of borders between the two countries. There’s an impression that Azerbaijan has the following plan: to sign a peace treaty with terms that would allow for disputing the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan stipulated under the Almaty Declaration and subsequently make territorial claims against Armenia during the delimitation and demarcation process. If the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan are undefined, then what territories is Azerbaijan talking about regarding various parts of the border? If such a question is raised, then the borders are defined, and Armenia’s proposal on reciprocal withdrawal of troops from that border line is still in force. While the delimitation and demarcation of borders attests not to the absence of borders, but on the contrary, to the defined, meaning, the reiteration of the administrative borders between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse, and its reflection on the ground as a state border,” Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. 

PM Pashinyan reiterated the agreement on establishing peace based on the reciprocal recognition of respective territorial integrity of Armenia (29,800 km2) and Azerbaijan (86,600 km2) and said that he is waiting for Azerbaijan to publicly reiterate this agreement.