Pashinyan press conference — A scene from PM Nikol Pashinyan's press conference

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Pashinyan: ‘Baku Is Trying to Legitimize Another War’

June 28, 2022

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The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

179

YEREVAN (JAMnews) — “Baku wants to legitimize another war, therefore it refuses dialogue, publicly accusing Armenia [of refusing to participate in the negotiations],” the Armenian Prime Minister said on June 27. After a five-month break, Nikol Pashinyan held another online press conference, boycotted by a majority of media outlets.

Speaking about the complicated relations with Azerbaijan, Pashinyan stressed that the unblocking of economic and transport communications in the region is the obligation of both countries. This is not a unilateral demand to Armenia, but a point of a joint statement signed with Azerbaijan on the cessation of hostilities in Karabakh.

“But Azerbaijan is trying to resolve the issue in a way that would leave Armenia in the blockade,” Pashinyan stressed.

According to him, the choice of routes for unblocking the region is small, a maximum of five options can be considered. But Baku is trying to politicize this technical issue, the prime minister believes:

“No one can be more interested in the issue of [unblocking] routes than we are․ Because we are faced with the task of sending as much international transit as possible along these roads, which will bring income to Armenia”.

According to the prime minister, Baku wants to legitimize a new war.

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It is for this reason that the Azerbaijani side refuses dialogue, Pashinyan and cited a few examples. A meeting of the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia and the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan was scheduled for June 27 and was canceled by Baku. Armenia offered to meet at the level of foreign ministers, but has not received an official response yet.

Meanwhile, the president of Azerbaijan earlier accused Armenia of allegedly rejecting a proposal to hold a trilateral meeting in Tbilisi at the level of the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. And the Armenian Foreign Ministry had to refute this information.

According to Pashinyan, Baku demonstrates the same approach in connection with the work of the commission on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. He believes that Azerbaijan is trying in this way to create the impression that Armenia is avoiding participation in the work of the commission:

“However, reality is different. During May, the Azerbaijani side canceled or postponed this meeting twice”.

According to the prime minister, preliminary discussions have already been held with Azerbaijan on the peace treaty and there are agreements to continue work. Therefore, Pashinyan considers “very strange” Baku’s statements that “Armenia is dragging out negotiations on a peace agreement.”

“As a result of the discussions, it was decided that the officials of Armenia and Azerbaijan should keep in touch with each other, but we already have at least one such case when Azerbaijan boycotted the work contrary to the agreements,” Pashinyan stressed.

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Topics: Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, Armenian-Azerbaijani tensions

People: Nikol Pashinyan

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The provisions of the agreement and a number of other issues are yet to be discussed. The prime minister assures that there is no other document at the negotiating table, except for the one already published.

This is a five-point document from Azerbaijan on the principles on which the peace treaty should be based. The Armenian side announced that there is nothing unacceptable in it, but it does not cover the entire agenda of issues to be discussed, and added its 6 points.

During the press conference, Pashinyan also spoke about the transfer of new territories to Azerbaijan. After the completion of the construction of an alternative road to the Lachin corridor, which connects Armenia with NK, the territories outside the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region will come under the control of Azerbaijan. This refers to the city of Berdzor (Lachin), as well as the settlements of Agavno and Sus.

“We are solving the problems of the inhabitants of Lachin [the government of Armenia], they, of course, should be provided with apartments. In fact, families do not live in Lachin today. I think that the problems of the residents of the village of Aghavno will be resolved at the expense of the government of Nagorno-Karabakh․ I can’t say anything about Sus, I don’t have any information at the moment”.

According to the prime minister, the purpose of building a road bypassing Lachin is to provide a “more reliable” road connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan has confirmed that there is a preliminary agreement on the construction of the road and the transfer of territories to Azerbaijan. But the prime minister believes that there can be no question of this happening this or next week.

According to the 2020 tripartite declaration of cessation of war, the route change should take place by agreement of the parties and after three years.

According to Pashinyan, negotiations on this topic are now in progress with Russian partners, since the new route, according to the trilateral statement, should be controlled by Russian peacekeepers.

According to Azerbaijan, 38 Armenian prisoners of war are still being held in Baku. Armenian human rights activists claim that there are many more of them. During a press conference, Pashinyan stated that all those who have reliable evidence that they were captured and can now be on the territory of Azerbaijan are considered “forcibly displaced”. Even a list of these people was compiled, but the prime minister did not say how many people were on it.

Pashinyan emphasized that more than 90 percent of the confirmed prisoners were captured after the entry of Russian peacekeepers into NK, in their zone of responsibility:

“Azerbaijan’s policy of not returning prisoners is aimed at discrediting the activities of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the Lachin corridor”.

He believes that the Armenian side, Russia and the international community should make additional efforts to return the prisoners. The Prime Minister assesses their retention in Azerbaijan as a violation of the November 9, 2020 tripartite ceasefire statement: “It says that prisoners of war, hostages, and other detainees must be returned to their homeland. There are people who were captured before November 9, and there are those who were later captured. But the November 9 statement does not say that this clause does not concern them.”

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