YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARTSAKHPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described the mutual recognition of territorial integrity between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be an important step in terms of establishing stability and peace in the region and finalizing the text of the peace treaty between the two countries.
The Armenian Prime Minister made the comment at the Cabinet meeting on May 18, speaking about his meeting with the Azerbaijani President on May 14 in Brussels under the mediation of the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
Pashinyan mentioned that in October 2022, during the Prague meeting together with the French President and the President of the European Council, the Azerbaijani president and him had reiterated their commitment to the UN Charter and the 1991 Almaty Declaration, stressing that they recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty based on these documents, and affirmed that this will be the basis for the work of the border delimitation commissions.
“Basically we made another step on May 14. And as it was mentioned in the statement by the President of the European Council after the May 14 meeting, we noted that Azerbaijan recognizes Armenia’s 29,900 square kilometers territorial integrity and Armenia recognizes Azerbaijan’s 86,600 square kilometers territorial integrity. I must note that I find this to be an important step for establishing stability and peace in the region, and also in terms of finalizing the text of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan and border delimitation. But, of course, the next step must be identifying and agreeing upon specific grounds with legal force and significance for delimitation,” Pashinyan said.
The Armenian Prime Minister highlighted the fact that President of the European Council Charles Michel noted in his statement the importance of Baku-Stepanakert dialogue around the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, in cooperation with the international community. Pashinyan said that this is a process which is significant for real and comprehensive normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and establishment of lasting peace in the region.
“Therefore it will greatly speed up the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. A certain positive understanding has been developed in Brussels also in terms of restoring the Armenia-Azerbaijan railway, but given the previous experience, I will refrain from specifying in this regard. I stress this again, Armenia is ready to reopen the connections envisaged under the 9 November 2020 statement clause 9 and the January 11 trilateral statement as soon as possible based on the principles of sovereignty, jurisdiction, reciprocity and equality of the parties,” Pashinyan said.
He added that Michel’s statement also noted that certain understanding took place on future release of POWs and other detainees and clarification of the fate of missing persons. “But given that this is a highly sensitive issue, I will only say that the discussions on this topic will continue during the next meetings,” Pashinyan said.
