Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on August 3 of last year, speaking about the demarcation process, said, “It is unacceptable for us to have the presence of Azerbaijani troops in our territory and to carry out the process of demarcation and delimitation in those conditions.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Council of Europe Charles Michel announced on May 23, “In the coming days, the first joint sitting of the delimitation commissions will take place at the interstate border. It will address all the issues related to demarcation and how to best ensure a stable situation.” And on the same day, Yerevan and Baku announced the composition of the commissions on demarcation and border security, and it was immediately followed by the first meeting of Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafayev in the direction of Yeraskh settlement on the border between Armenia and Nakhichevan.
Does this mean that Armenia renounced its previous position that the demarcation issue can be discussed only after the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the sovereign territory of Armenia? In response to this question, the guest of Aravot’s “Areresum (Confrontation)” program, former Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, who has been the chair of the Armenian State Border Demarcation and Delimitation Commission since 2017 and also chaired the commission in 2014, said: “First of all, it is obvious that if you start a process, they should leave your territory. Second, look, Charles Michel gives a time frame. Let me just give an example: we have friendly relations with Georgia. But the negotiations on starting the process date back to 1992. When was the commission formed? Four years later, in 1996.”
Presenting detailed justifications, he asserted that in this case the logic and the international principles of demarcation are completely violated. “Giving away our territories takes place under the guise of demarcation and delimitation.”
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He cited a section of the Goris-Kapan road as an example. “The 21 km section appeared under the control of Azerbaijan. On what basis? The demarcation and delimitation had not started yet. Nikol Pashinyan says it is theirs, the border is on the other side. Ah, do you know the border in advance? So, he knows the border in advance and pretends that demarcation and delimitation work is being done. Proof of that is the fact that he gives Azerbaijani names to the settlements.”
Anna Israyelyan
