By Shoghik Galstian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Azerbaijan may be preparing the ground to attack Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed on Monday, February 10.
“Azerbaijan’s official propaganda is increasingly focusing on the notion that Armenia is arming itself and preparing to attack Azerbaijan and that Azerbaijan therefore has the right to defend itself and take preventive measures,” he said in an article published by the official Armenpress news agency.
Pashinyan pointed to Baku’s “aggressive rhetoric,” major military buildup and continuing description of most of Armenia’s internationally recognized territory as “Western Azerbaijan.” He said the Azerbaijani leadership may thus be “trying to form the basis” for another military aggression against Armenia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev implicitly threatened such military action a month ago, branding Armenia as a “fascist” state and complaining about Yerevan’s reluctance to open an extraterritorial land corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. Pashinyan responded at the time by signaling readiness for more concessions to Baku, including dissolution of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry dismissed his overtures.
Pashinyan stressed on Monday that Armenia unconditionally recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and has no “plan, intention or goal for any military action against Azerbaijan.” He said Yerevan will not even use force to try to liberate more than 200 square kilometers of Armenian territory mostly occupied by Azerbaijani forces in 2021 and 2022.
Pashinyan also renewed his calls for the quick signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Aliyev has repeatedly set multiple preconditions for such an agreement which includes a change of Armenia’s constitution.
