Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has responded to statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the process of clarifying borders with Armenia should be based on maps from 1918 and all maps up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and that according to some maps from 1918-20, Yerevan and Syunik are within Azerbaijan’s composition.
“We are not opposed to the study of maps. But why limit ourselves to the 20th century? One could start with maps created in Babylon in the 6th century BC, or those created by Herodotus in the 5th century BC, or by Strabo in the 1st century BC, or by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD, or those created by Pliny the Elder in the same period, and continue with the numerous Latin, Byzantine, Arab and other geographical descriptions and maps of later periods. Armenia has no fear of not finding itself on those maps.”
“Nevertheless, being interested in the effective work of the future commission on border delimitation and border security, the Republic of Armenia believes that this work should be based on maps accepted by both sides and having legal force.”
