Armenia to Recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as Azeri Territory if Security of Armenians Guaranteed

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the country is ready to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan if Baku guarantees the security of its ethnic Armenian population.

In mid-March, Azerbaijan presented a series of framework proposals for a peace agreement. One key aspect of the proposal is the mutual recognition of conflicted Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azeri territory.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been a source of conflict between the two Caucasus neighbors since the years leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and between ethnic Armenians and Turkic Azeris for well over a century.

“The 86,600 sq km of Azerbaijan’s territory includes Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan was quoted as saying by Russian government-controlled RIA Novosti at a press conference today. “If we understand each other correctly, then Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the named limits, and Baku - the territorial integrity of Armenia at 29,800 sq km.”

The leader demanded the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh be guaranteed; and said the issue should be discussed between the two countries.

Azerbaijan seized control of areas that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around the mountain enclave in September 2020, and since then it has periodically closed the only access road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, on which the enclave relies for financial and military support.

Pashinyan expressed hope for an early peace agreement with Azerbaijan, although he admitted that he did not consider it realistic to sign this document at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Moscow on May 25.

“Armenia remains committed to the peace agenda in the region. And we hope that in the near future we will come to an agreement on the text of the peace treaty and be able to sign it,” he said.

Earlier, Aliyev said that a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia was inevitable. He said, after meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, in Vilnius, “We think that the signing of a peace treaty is inevitable and are trying to make constructive efforts to achieve this goal. Naturally, this peace treaty should embrace international norms and principles.”

Armenian citizens unhappy?

Opposition parties have been organizing massive anti-government protests over early hints that Pashinyan could hand over the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Azerbaijan. In early May, former Armenian President Robert Kocharian even demanded Pashinyan’s resignation.