Azerbaijan on Sunday accused archrival Armenia of “trying to distort the essence” of various issues regarding security in the South Caucasus region.
The attempt to mislead both the international community and Armenian society while avoiding the obligations undertaken by Armenia is unacceptable, a Foreign Ministry statement read in response to televised comments by Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia.
“Regarding the claim on the foundation of the delimitation process, it should be noted that, in line with the statements of both the Prague and Sochi meetings, the delimitation is considered to be carried out based on the mutual recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the Azerbaijani ministry stressed.
The statement said it is known to the Armenian side that there are “no agreements” regarding maps based on which the delimitation between the two countries will be carried out, further saying that Azerbaijan has carried out processes of delimitation with some of its neighbors “on the basis of the analysis and review of all legally significant documents.”
Expressing that this process can also be applied in the case of Armenia, the statement called on Yerevan to start work on delimitation rather than insisting on referring to a 1975 map, reiterating that it was Armenia that did not respond to the proposal of delimitation of state borders.
The statement also accused Armenia of obstructing efforts to restore the transport connection to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, denied Grigoryan’s claims that the Lachin road is closed, and called on Yerevan to end its interference in the issue of the reintegration of Armenian residents in Karabakh.
“Instead of advancing the peace process in the region, the statement by the Armenian official that his country has entered a new period of arms buildup shows that this country has not yet learned from history,” it further said.
It concluded that Armenia’s “destructive” attempt to evade its obligations by misinterpreting the agreements made does not serve to restore peace in the region and is primarily not in favor of Armenia.
Majority-Christian Armenia and Azerbaijan, whose population is mostly Muslim, were both republics of the Soviet Union that gained independence in 1991 when the USSR broke up.
They have gone to war twice over disputed territories, mainly Karabakh, a region internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but occupied by Armenia for nearly three decades.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in the two wars over the region, one lasting six years and ending in 1994 and the second in 2020, which ended in a Russia-negotiated cease-fire deal that saw Moscow deploy a peacekeeping contingent along the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Armenia to the enclave.
However, a dispute over establishing a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor in April has brewed violent tension between the rival nations, which saw another half a dozen people killed from both sides since last December.
Baku said the border checkpoint was created in response to security threats from Armenia, citing the transfer of weapons and ammunition to the Karabakh region. Yerevan denied the charges and claimed the move violated the cease-fire. Armenia, which relies on Russia as a security guarantor, is also frustrated over what it sees as the Kremlin’s failure to fulfill its peacekeeping role in the territory.
With major regional power Russia struggling to maintain its decisive influence due to the fallout from its war on Ukraine, the conflict has since drawn more Western mediation efforts.
The United States, expressing “deep concern” over the checkpoint, hosted the foreign ministers of rival nations in Washington in May to end the dispute, even reporting a “tangible process.”
The European Union too, which has a civil mission deployed in the troubled territory since early 2023, also brought together Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels late last month.
The two leaders met face to face again later in Moscow alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin to hammer out a peace agreement. While talks didn’t yield such a deal, Pashinian reiterated his announcement that his country would recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and would open all transport links.
Aliyev confirmed that there was a chance of normalizing the relationship. Putin had said the settlement was possible because it was in the interest of the economic development of both sides. But Pashinian insisted Aliyev’s statements on Baku’s initiation of the creation of the Zangezur corridor were “an expression” used to put forward territorial claims against Armenia.
The Zangezur region was part of Azerbaijan, though the Soviets gave it to Armenia in the 1920s, leaving Azerbaijan deprived of its direct overland route to Nakhchivan.
After a 12th round of tripartite talks in Moscow last Friday, Kremlin said the two sides had reached a common understanding on restoring a southern rail link that would connect Armenia with Azerbaijan and Iran but did not mention the Lachin road.
