ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has responded to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s latest statement that falsely accused Armenia of “negligence” in relation to its obligations under the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement in the context of the unblocking of regional connections.
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan reacted to the Azeri Foreign Ministry statement in an interview with Armenpress news agency.
Armenpress: Ms. Badalyan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson, commenting on the observations made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about several provisions of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement during the Crossroads of Peace, Combining Security and Democracy conference, described them as “distortion of reality” and falsely accused Armenia of demonstrating negligence towards its obligations. How would you comment on the statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson?
Ani Badalyan: First of all, we should take a look at the facts. The 9 November 2020 trilateral statement provides for Russian peacekeepers to be stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh, and a 5km wide Lachin Corridor under the control of the Russian peacekeepers, but there is neither a Lachin Corridor nor Russian peacekeepers.
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The 9 November 2020 trilateral statement envisages the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to the Nagorno-Karabakh area and adjacent regions under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, but Azerbaijan declares that there is no Nagorno-Karabakh territory, that there is no Nagorno-Karabakh, which essentially means a refusal to fulfill this obligation envisaged in the trilateral statement. To this day, not a single Armenian refugee or internally displaced person has returned neither to the Nagorno-Karabakh area nor the adjacent areas.
The 9 November 2020 trilateral statement envisages the exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons. To this day Armenians are held in Azerbaijani prisons, including those captured in November or October of 2020. Azerbaijan says these persons are not prisoners of war. If they are not prisoners of war then they are hostages or other detained persons: the wording of the trilateral statement covers any incarcerated person.
Azerbaijan has also been constantly raising the issue of the missing persons. The Republic of Armenia is also raising this issue, because the Armenian side itself has nearly one thousand missing persons as a result of the two wars, and we are ready to cooperate in this issue as well.
And in relation to article 9 of the trilateral statement, this article envisages that the Republic of Armenia shall organize the passage of cargo, vehicles and persons in its territory and guarantee their security. This is very clearly written in the statement. It is clear that the Republic of Armenia shall do this within the framework of its jurisdiction and sovereignty. Regarding the Russian FSB border guard bodies, article 9 of the trilateral statement does not envisage their physical presence.
The Armenian government’s Crossroads of Peace project also accurately reflects the roadmap of fulfillment of Armenia’s obligations, and we have conveyed proposals within this framework to the Azerbaijani side. Being interested in the unblocking of all transport and economic infrastructures in the region, which is actually envisaged in the trilateral statement, we have offered and still offer Azerbaijan to start the process of implementing the unblocking without delay.
