«Just as before, during and after the 44-day war, Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of shaping a discourse that justifies its military attack against Armenia and Mountainous Karabakh», Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared on March 31 during the government’s regular session, explaining the statement of the RA Security Council, and added that Azerbaijan puts theses and proposals onto the public platform, then accuses Armenia of not responding to those theses, proposals or interpretations, or of responding in a destructive manner, and then attributes certain promises to Armenia and fabricates certain agreements.
According to the Prime Minister, it is evident that Azerbaijan, through its repeatedly recurring modus operandi, is trying to legitimise a large-scale war against Mountainous Karabakh and Armenia. «My aim today is to demonstrate that this discourse is groundless and illegitimate», said Nikol Pashinyan and added that at times fake news takes on a significant role. In that context, the Prime Minister recalled that Azerbaijan is spreading blatant disinformation that Armenia has provided its multi-purpose aircraft to Russia for use in Ukraine. «Our Su aircraft have never once left the borders of our country».
Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the most manipulated theme is that of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. «Azerbaijan keeps insisting that the RA is leaving that question unanswered, along with its 5-point proposals, which absolutely does not correspond to reality, because I have repeatedly publicly declared the RA’s readiness to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. The RA has responded through both working and diplomatic channels».
As the Prime Minister noted, Azerbaijan regards the RA’s response as an absence of response, because Armenia has stated that the NK issue exists, and within the framework of a comprehensive Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement the question of the rights of the Armenian population of NK must be addressed, and the international community also speaks of a comprehensive settlement of the NK issue, whereas Azerbaijan considers that the NK question is resolved. «Azerbaijan is trying not to resolve the NK issue but to close it, and this operation was launched from the village of Parukh in the Askeran district, which has an evident tendency to continue. Azerbaijan is trying to remove all Armenians from Mountainous Karabakh, thereby considering the question closed».
Addressing the formulation of Azerbaijan’s demand, Nikol Pashinyan stressed: «The withdrawal of the Mountainous Karabakh Defence Army means the withdrawal of Armenians from NK. The events at Parukh testify that the Armenian population of NK needs protection, otherwise it will become a victim of Genocide».
Azerbaijan is distorting point 9 of the November 9 trilateral statement, which concerns the restoration of all road and economic links in the region and the operation of the road connecting Azerbaijan’s western regions to Nakhichevan, declared RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
He recalled that Armenia has presented proposals in this regard, the essence of which is the following: to rebuild the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, to reopen or build a road for motor vehicles, which would also connect Azerbaijan’s western regions with Nakhichevan.
Nikol Pashinyan also stated that Azerbaijan agrees to any legal regime for the operation of this road, but the same regime must also apply in the case of the Lachin corridor, and to justify this position they refer to the November 9 statement.
«This discourse is groundless for two reasons: first, in the November 9 statement there is no mention of any territory of the Republic of Armenia or of a corridor related to it, but the expression “Lachin corridor” does exist. The Lachin corridor is not, or not only, a road, but also a territory that is 5 kilometres wide. That entire territory, according to the trilateral statement, is under the control of the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping forces. In point 9 of the trilateral statement there is simply no provision for any other country’s control over any territory of Armenia. Besides this, the parallels between Mountainous Karabakh and Nakhichevan are strange for several reasons. First, Nakhichevan has a land connection with Azerbaijan through the territory of Iran and Turkey, and an air connection through the airspace of Iran, Turkey and the Republic of Armenia.
Mountainous Karabakh has only a land connection with Armenia, only through the Lachin corridor, and turning the Lachin corridor into a territory controlled in any way by Azerbaijan means only one thing: the depopulation of Armenians from Mountainous Karabakh», stressed Pashinyan.
