In the process of Armenia-Azerbaijan demarcation and delimitation, it is important to first note the fact that in the 1920s-30s, about 1,500 square kilometers of the territory of the Armenian borders was given to Azerbaijan because Azerbaijan aimed to create Kurdish regions, violating all the rights of the Armenian peasants.
“Red Kurdistan” was not created, but the pastures remained with Azerbaijan, said Ruben Galichyan, honorary doctor of NAS and cartographer at the meeting with journalists at the Media Center the other day.
According to him, this problem can be solved legally. “There are documents about this in the archives, letters from villagers, which I also read.” Ruben Galichyan emphasized that none of the Armenian officials addressed him with this issue, but he hopes that such issues will be taken into consideration.
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“From a legal point of view, we can claim ours. In addition, the constitution of Azerbaijan says that it is the heir of the first republic of Azerbaijan of 1918-1920, not of the USSR, so there was no ‘Azerbaijani enclave’ in Armenia until 1936. And the issue of Nakhichevan can be raised during that time because it was handed over by the communist government, which Azerbaijan does not recognize. Their own constitution says that they did not have an enclave in Armenia, so why are they demanding it?”
The expert noted that although there is no mention of maps in the document dated November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan should have no other option but to start the case from the Soviet borders. “The first step to start demarcation is that Azerbaijan should return to the Soviet borders it accepted, then we should return to the maps of the 1920s. With them, we will not have any ‘Azerbaijani enclave’ in RA, and the 1,500 square kilometer territories given to Azerbaijan will be ours.
Although we have not seen the originals of these maps to this day, reduced versions exist and were published in the first great Soviet encyclopedia. According to those maps, Armenia and Artsakh have a border, Artsvashen and Al lakes are in RA territory, and there are no other enclaves.
The General Staff of the USSR ratified them. Those maps are very detailed. Today, Azerbaijan has forged those maps and is showing other maps, and their soldiers have them in their hands, demanding territories from our border guards. Azerbaijan should return the occupied territories from Armenia and withdraw the troops from the territories that entered the borders of Armenia today.”
Ruben Galichyan also emphasized that if the demarcation and delimitation process takes place without considering the legal grounds and with the haste with which the Berdzor region was handed over to Azerbaijan, Armenia will suffer new territorial losses.
Luiza Sukiasyan
