The recognition of Armenia’s territory of 29,800 square kilometers means Armenia is not only without Artsakh but also without Tigranashen and some villages of the Tavush Region. Cartographer Shahen Shahinyan told Aravot.am about this. Let’s remind that after the tripartite negotiations held in Brussels on May 14, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced that “the leaders of the countries expressed their unequivocal loyalty to the 1991 Almaty Declaration, and they recognize mutual territorial integrity: Armenia with 29,800 square kilometers and Azerbaijan with 86,600 square kilometers, the final delimitation will take place through negotiations.”
“If we look at the archival documents, the surfaces mentioned in the statement, and the figures in open sources, it should be clearly understood that in the case of a similar surface in Azerbaijan, it includes the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and the so-called enclaves in the territory of Armenia.
Cartographer Shahen Shahinyan
Three enclaves in Armenia have always been discussed: Tigranashen, Verin Voskepar, and Barkhudarlu villages in Tavush Marz. And the enclave of the Armenian side, we know, is Artsvashen. When we talk about surfaces, these areas are included in that surface,” said Shahen Shahinyan.
According to him, these surfaces, which are being talked about, were implemented based on those cartographic materials, which, de facto, worked in the 1970s and 1980s. As for the fact that they were talking about the 1991 maps in Brussels, the cartographer responded like this: “They are based on maps of the 1970s; enclaves were already included in those maps. I cannot comment on any talk about the 1991 map, as I am not aware of the existence of such a map.”
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The cartographer considers these surfaces’ recognition of territorial integrity as a concession. “Definitely a concession, concession of national interests, the territories of the 1st republic of RA, the territories of the Soviet Armenia while entered the Soviet Union. That is a concession by Armenia, we are ceding Artsakh’s right, and I am not sure that RA has that right to make decisions instead of Artsakh. We are ceding the Armenian territories, but what we are getting in return is unclear to me now, because Azerbaijan always demands the Armenian territories.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
