Arsen Torosyan: We are not going to give any territory or settlement  within borders of Soviet Armenia to any country

ArmInfo.We are not going to give any territory or settlement within the borders of Soviet Armenia to any country. Advisor to the Prime Minister of Armenia Arsen Torosyan told reporters on March 19, commenting at the request of the media representatives on the Prime Minister's statements about the start of the process of demarcation and delimitation from the Tavush region, despite the fact that there is no agreement between the parties regarding the maps on the basis of which these works will be carried out.

He emphasized that the demarcation process is one of the main components of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace settlement.

When asked why it was decided to start with the Tavush region, Torosyan mentioned briefly "the main thing is to start." At the same time, he noted that first of all it is necessary to reach an agreement on the maps on which the demarcation and delimitation of borders will be carried out.  "But everything should proceed from the basic principle - the countries that joined the Alma-Ata Declaration recognized the Soviet administrative borders as state borders, and on the basis of this the process of demarcation and delimitation should take place. This does not mean that new borders will be establidshed- but only the legal consolidation of existing borders 'on the ground'," he emphasized.  If the demarcation takes place over territory that is under the control of one country or another, as the Prime Minister's adviser noted, within the framework of a mutual agreement it should be returned to one side or another.

At the same time, he attached importance to the meeting of the Prime Minister with the residents of the Tavush region, which took place yesterday, because people learned about everything directly from the head of the state. "This means that we will not do anything secret or hidden," Torosyan assured.  As he said, the state's concerns are still associated with the destructive actions of the Azerbaijani side.  "Consequently, we must go forward, make decisions, taking all this into account," Pashinyan's advisor emphasized. 

During a visit to Tavush region, Prime Minister Nikol Pashchinyan said that the real process of delimitation and demarcation can begin from Baghanis to Berkaber. "What features are there? You know that Azerbaijan raises the issue of 4 villages, for now it is only about 4 non-enclave villages. You know that we raise the issue of 31 villages. We raise this issue, they raise that issue. 

And when we want to move forward in these discussions, even if we proceed from the logic that we have 31 settlements in a problematic situation, and they have fewer ones, Azerbaijan uses the argument that the real territory of none of the settlements of the Republic of Armenia is under the control of Azerbaijan , that is, no residential part of the village is under the control of Azerbaijan. What they're saying? They say: let's mutually withdraw from the territories of the settlements themselves, then we will discuss the vital territories of villages and settlements.

We, of course, respond and say that a village is not only a rural administration, a village is also its vital territories, that is, during these discussions we present all the arguments, and these arguments are fair. Our policy is that we must not allow war; we must not allow war to start. And this is also the reason why we decided to clarify the border of the Republic of Armenia in these areas and we are doing this not only for the sake of the Republic of Armenia, but also specifically for the sake of the village of Voskepar, the village of Kirants, to ensure the security of these villages," the Prime Minister said at a meeting with residents

Earlier, Baku announced that it demands the immediate "return of 4 villages" located on the border of the Tavush region of Armenia and the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan. The statement followed a meeting of the border delimitation commissions, headed by the vice-premiers of the two countries, Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafayev. "As for the four non-exclave Azerbaijani villages (Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi Eskipara, Kheyrimli and Gyzylgajili) 'occupied' by Armenia, their belonging to Azerbaijan is indisputable, and they are subject to immediate return," they stated.

Baku is also confident that within the framework of the delimitation process, "the issue of 'liberation' of four exclave villages (Yukhary Askipara, Sofulu, Barkhudarlu in the Armenian Tavush, as well as Kyarki (Armenian - Tigranashen) in the Ararat region, on the border with Nakhijevan) will be resolved." At the same time, Baku denied the statements of the Armenian authorities that Azerbaijan occupied the territory of 31 Armenian settlements in five regions with a total area of about 200 square kilometers, calling it "an unfounded statement." Some of them came under the control of Azerbaijan back in the 1990s during the first Karabakh war, others as a result of Azerbaijani aggression in 2021-2022.