Baku has reacted negatively to Armenia’s proposals to start the demarcation-delimitation process. According to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, there is no need to develop “creative” approaches to demarcation; international borders must be recognized. But can we say that there are internationally recognized borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan today? In response to this question during “Aravot”‘s “Areresum (Confrontation)” program, the head of the cartography department of the USSR Institute of National Economy and director of the Nahapet publishing house, Sen Hovhannisyan, answered, “I can say for sure that they do not exist and cannot exist in the next few years.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already announced that the internal demarcation maps of the USSR republics are in the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. And the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan expressed conviction that “the maps mentioned by the President of Russia, if not 100, then 99% coincide with the borders of the Republic of Armenia described in the Law on Administrative Division of Armenia.” Is it clear which maps we are talking about?
In response to this question, Geographical Sciences Ph.D. and professor Maxim Manasyan mentioned, “I can definitely say that it is right to take the maps of the 1920s as a basis. In legal and other respects, they are more correct.” According to him, Artsvashen is connected to Armenia on those maps; there are no enclaves.
“And the roads that the Prime Minister considers Azerbaijani today are even mainly in the territory of Armenia,” Manasyan added. Which of these maps have legal force? “I can clearly say that no map has legal force,” Sen Hovhannisyan responded. The maps that are the legal basis for demarcation must have been approved, stamped, and signed by the leaders of the Soviet Republic of Armenia and the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.
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However, Hovhannisyan insisted, “No map has been signed or approved. I was with Hrant Voskanyan (1975-1985 – Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia Central Committee, 1985-1990 – Chair of the Presidency of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR, edit), who is a geographer by profession, and he passed it all on to me. When he was the chair of the Supreme Council, they did not have any such document.” Sen Hovhannisyan had brought numerous maps published in 1920 and in the following years, which he showed during the program. According to him, their originals are in the National Library of Paris. Have the state bodies appealed to receive these documents?
In response to the question, Maxim Manasyan said, “Unfortunately, there is no desire to listen to the opinions of scientists and specialists today, nor do they listen to us.”
Full discussion in the video
Anna ISRAELYAN
