Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned that Armenia could be at risk of war with Azerbaijan if it does not reach an agreement with Baku regarding the return of certain strategic Azerbaijani territories that have been under Armenian control since the early 1990s.
Pashinyan made these remarks during a Monday meeting with residents of border areas in northern Armenia’s Tavush region, close to a string of deserted Azerbaijani villages that Yerevan has controlled since the early phases of the countries’ three-decade-long conflict in the early 1990s.
Russian news agency [TASS] cited Pashinyan in a video of the meeting shared by his government: “Now we can leave here; let’s go and tell [Azerbaijan] that no, we are not going to do anything. This means that at the end of the week, a war will begin.”
Pashinyan has repeatedly signaled in recent weeks that he is willing to return the villages to Azerbaijan, which are important for Yerevan as they control its main road northwards to the border with Georgia.
Azerbaijan has stated that the return of its lands is a necessary precondition for a peace deal to end three decades of conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan retook in September.
Both sides have expressed a desire to sign a formal peace treaty, but talks have become bogged down in issues including demarcation of the countries’ 1000km (620 mile) border, which is closed and heavily militarized.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to occupy lands that are internationally recognized as part of each other’s territory.
Russian news agency [TASS] cited Pashinyan in a video of the meeting shared by his government: “Now we can leave here; let’s go and tell [Azerbaijan] that no, we are not going to do anything. This means that at the end of the week, a war will begin.”
Pashinyan has repeatedly signaled in recent weeks that he is willing to return the villages to Azerbaijan, which are important for Yerevan as they control its main road northwards to the border with Georgia.
Azerbaijan has stated that the return of its lands is a necessary precondition for a peace deal to end three decades of conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan retook in September.
Both sides have expressed a desire to sign a formal peace treaty, but talks have become bogged down in issues including demarcation of the countries’ 1000km (620 mile) border, which is closed and heavily militarized.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to occupy lands that are internationally recognized as part of each other’s territory.
Source: Reuters
More In Politics MORE...
