Armenia's next territorial claim is to obstruct peace treaty
Abbas Ganbay
Read moreWhile making reasonable steps towards peace in the South Caucasus, Armenia is stumbling over the stone. They forget that peaceful coexistence in the region is the only way of building a better future in this geopolitically important space, where some forces are in wait for a chance to intrude by any means. However, it seems that Armenia's plans for the future regarding the region are completely different. Everyone in the country, from the leadership to the society, serves one goal - to occupy a territory, but behind this goal, the contradictory claims form a ridiculous image. Next Armenian lies.
It means that Armenia still does not consider itself ready for peace negotiations. For example, let's take the last baseless statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country, Ararat Mirzoyan.
Speaking at the "government hour" in the Armenian Parliament, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, answered the question of "Hayastan" ("Armenia") faction deputy Christine Vardanyan, how many square kilometers of the territory of the Republic of Armenia is "occupied" by Azerbaijan, said: "About 200 square kilometers of the territory of Armenia are under the control of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces".
The more tragic aspect of the issue is that the two ministries come from figures that completely contradict each other. While the Armenian FM gives the abovementioned figures, the Defense Minister of RA gives another one in which it claims that in 2023 Azerbaijan has "occupied" 60 square kilometres of Armenia's territory - this a data that has not been recorded anywhere.
According to an Azerbaijani military expert, former military serviceman, Adalat Verdiyev, who made a comment on this issue for AZERNEWS, the claims voiced by Armenian authority are completely false. The expert said that the latest situation on the border is stable and there is no question of occupying any territory while the Azerbaijani army is standing peacefully.
"It is clear that the Armenian side is trying to divert the attention of the international community to Azerbaijan by accusing her over a false claim of occupying the territory of 60 km, while there is no incident on the border.
At the same time, it is trying to distract Azerbaijan from its desire to liberate its villages under the occupation of Armenia," the expert said.
The fact that the eight occupied villages have not yet been returned and, moreover, Armenia's territorial claim is the most bitter reality of the day.
"Since the day of its existence, the state of Armenia has never shared truthful information reflecting real events. Those who constantly accuse the Azerbaijani side of occupying the territories of Armenia, for some reason do not prefer to say a word about the fact that to this day they keep 8 villages of Azerbaijan under occupation," the expert added.
As for the presentation of different numbers by the Armenian leadership, the expert called it simply a lack of coordination.
"It is normal for Armenia to use different numbers in claims. This is related to the lack of coordination in the activities against Azerbaijan in the ruling team," he opined.
Regarding the situation on the border, the expert explained the current situation as follows: "Azerbaijan has not taken control of any territory of Armenia that it does not consider itself. In order to prevent the provocations committed against it, Azerbaijan deployed its troops in fixed positions on the delimited conventional border, and all this happened due to the provocations of Armenia," Verdiyev said adding that in the current situation, no state can express an opinion on the specific designation of border areas.
"As for certain areas between the conventional borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, no one in any country can define these areas. Because the conventional borders are still undefined between the parties.
These claims against Azerbaijan clearly show that Armenia does not intend to sign a peace treaty. As a result, this hinders the achievement of sustainable peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia," he concluded.
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