Pashinyan: Azerbaijan’s 86,600 km2 also includes Karabakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has weighed in on the meaning of Armenia’s recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan “with an area of 86,600 square kilometers”, maintaining that said territory “also includes Nagorno Karabakh” (Artsakh).

"The Republic of Armenia is ready to recognize the territorial integrity of 86,600 square kilometers, and in our opinion, Azerbaijan is ready to recognize the territorial integrity of 29,800 square kilometers of the Republic of Armenia," he told a press conference on Monday, May 22.

When asked whether the Armenian government recognizes Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan, Pashinyan said that all Armenian governments have recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The Prime Minister drew attention to the importance of ensuring the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, which should be discussed by Stepanakert and Baku.

"We say that the issue of the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be discussed within the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue," Pashinyan said, highlighting the need for international guarantees.

He repeated that Azerbaijan strives to carry out ethnic cleansing and genocidal policy in Artsakh, and it is the task of RA to oppose it, including "through constructive negotiations with Azerbaijan and conducting Baku-Stepanakert institutional dialogue".

On May 14, Pashinyan’s meeting with the leader of Azerbaijan took place in Brussels through the mediation of Charles Michel, the President of the European Council. During a meeting held in Prague on October 6, 2022 at the mediation of the President of France and the President of the European Council, Pashinyan and the president of Azerbaijan reaffirmed their countries' commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma Ata Declaration of 1991, stressing that they recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other based on those documents, they also confirmed that this will be the basis for the work of the border delimitation commissions.