Despite the efforts of the RA government and the international community, the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border line does not stabilize. This was stated at today’s session of the RA government by Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
“Azerbaijan continues to employ aggressive rhetoric and actions, while leaving unanswered all the proposals of the international community aimed at a political and long-term settlement of the situation. As such, I want to again mention the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, for example, of April 13, in which they call on the parties to resume high-level political dialogue under the auspices of the co-chairs at the earliest opportunity,” Pashinyan noted.
He recalled that to this day Azerbaijan has not responded to this call, while Armenia has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to begin the negotiation process at any moment in the proposed format.
“We have also expressed our readiness to be in dialogue on issues outside the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. Nevertheless, Azerbaijan, through all its actions, is trying to thwart any possibility of dialogue, discrediting through rhetoric and actions also the trilateral statements of November 9 and January 11,” said the Acting Prime Minister.
He emphasized that despite point 8 of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, sham trials of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons continue in Azerbaijan, as a result of which they are sentenced to long years of imprisonment: “The fact that in recent times almost all those sentenced were captured after November 9 in the zones of responsibility of the peacekeepers deserves special attention. If we combine this fact with the large-scale counter-propaganda conducted in Azerbaijan against the peacekeepers, and with the fact that Azerbaijan has not yet signed the mandate of the peacekeepers, it becomes obvious that this is a series of actions against the peacekeepers, that is, against stability and peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
According to Pashinyan, Azerbaijan is taking consistent actions also to discredit the topic of opening regional communications.
“Despite the fact that neither in point 9 of the November 9 statement nor in the January 11 statement is there any expression or definition of ‘corridor’, no specific routes are emphasized, Azerbaijan continues to raise the topic of some corridor, pointing to specific routes and directions,” said the Acting Prime Minister.
He emphasized that he has previously said many times that Armenia has not discussed, does not discuss and will not discuss any question of corridor logic, and with the aforementioned formulations Azerbaijan is trying to thwart the topic of opening regional communications, which is not only an extremely important issue for us, but also stands among the priorities of the Government.
“For us it is unequivocal and undoubted that all transport and economic communications of the region must be opened, and just as Armenia must have communication through the territory of Azerbaijan, including towards Russia, Central Asia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, so too Azerbaijan must have communication through the territory of Armenia, including towards Nakhichevan, Georgia, Iran,” said Pashinyan.
“Taking into account the existing situation, I think it makes sense to consider the issue of deploying Russian border guard outposts along the entire length of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which would make it possible to carry out delimitation and demarcation works without the danger of military clashes. In any case, we are preparing to discuss this topic with our Russian colleagues,” said the Acting Prime Minister.
According to him, in accordance with the mandate received from the citizens of the RA, the Government is preparing to take all necessary measures to ensure the security, peace and stability of our region: “In carrying out these processes, our Government will act in accordance with the mandate received from the citizens of the RA.”
