A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Before discussing the agenda, Prime Minister Pashinyan referred to another provocation carried out by the Azerbaijani armed forces on April 11, as a result of which 4 servicemen of the Armenian armed forces were killed, to the situation in Tegh village, and reaffirmed the readiness of the Armenian side to settle relations through negotiations.
In his speech, Nikol Pashinyan, in particular, noted:
“Dear participants of the Cabinet meeting,
Dear people,
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Despite all our efforts, unfortunately, we failed to implement the ongoing deployment of border guards in the Tegh village section of the Armenia-Azerbaijani border without escalation.
On April 11, the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out another provocation in that area, as a result of which 4 servicemen of our Armed Forces were killed, selflessly fulfilling their military duty and protecting the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
Please observe a moment of silence to honor our fallen brothers. (Participants of the Cabinet meeting stand up to observe a minute of silence to honor the memory of the fallen servicemen).
Thank you.
I’m not going into the details of the incident right now, because I think the published video gives an idea of what happened.
As for the situation in Tegh village section created since March 30, I think the situation needs a detailed investigation, including evaluating our actions in terms of initially securing the part of the state border in question.
At the same time, I must record that the actions of Azerbaijan in the mentioned area are provocative and contradict the statements made based on the results of the meetings held on October 6, 2022 in Prague and October 31, 2022 in Sochi.
In terms of the political assessment of the border situation, I think that the message spread by the European Union yesterday, where the border line of 1991 is emphasized, is important. It’s about the administrative border that existed between the Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijani SSR, which was transformed into a state border on December 21, 1991 by the declaration in Alma-Ata.
Here, that boundary should be respected. This is recorded in the message of the European Union. It emphasizes the withdrawal of the armed forces of both sides from that border to a safe distance as a reliable guarantee of the stability of the situation. I consider it necessary to emphasize that Armenia is ready to take such a measure along the entire Armenia-Azerbaijan border line of 1991. We have been expressing our readiness in this regard since 2021, and this action arises from the logic of the above-mentioned Prague quadrilateral and Sochi trilateral agreements.
This solution is hindered by Azerbaijan’s unconstructive approach. Azerbaijan systematically demonstrates its practice of not fulfilling the agreements reached on international platforms. This is the case with the release of prisoners. This is the case with the maintenance of the ceasefire regime and the non-use of force or the threat of force, a written agreement on which was reached on October 31, 2022 in Sochi. This is the case with regard to the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor, which Azerbaijan continues despite the February 22 decision of the highest international court, the International Court of Justice. But in case of non-compliance with the court’s decision, there are international mechanisms outlined, and our efforts should be focused on implementing those mechanisms.
At the same time, in spite of all the difficulties, we remain committed to the policy of settling all regional issues, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and Armenia-Azerbaijan relations through negotiations.
We are also ready for the reopening of regional economic and transport links, based on the principles we have previously expressed.
We are also ready for border delimitation based on the above-mentioned Prague and Sochi agreements. Thank you.”
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA