Armenia's Pashinyan Claims Azerbaijan Seeks to 'Legitimize Large-Scale Attack' on Nagorno-Karabakh
Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the majority of the disputed region has been under de facto Armenian administration.
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Azerbaijan has been accused by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of attempting to establish a pretext for waging "a large-scale attack on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."
Speaking at a government meeting on Thursday, the prime minister noted that Baku's claims that Armenia had not reacted to its five-point peace settlement proposal, which was issued on March 10 via the OSCE's Minsk Group, which was founded in 1992, was not true. Armenia's government, according to Pashinyan, responded on March 14.
Azerbaijan is "trying to legitimize a large-scale attack on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh," according to Pashinyan, who added that Baku "first dumps theses on a diplomatic or public platform,” and “ascribes some promises to Armenia," subsequently saying that Yerevan is not abiding by the agreements.
The prime minister continued by saying that Yerevan is waiting for Azerbaijan's approval of proposals on the introduction of international monitoring mechanisms at the border.
He recalled that Armenia had previously proposed to withdraw troops from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border of the Soviet period, transfer border protection to a limited number of border guards and carry out international monitoring. According to Pashinyan, the offer was deemed "unacceptable" by Baku.
However, Armenia has been and purportedly remains as flexible as possible and offered several options for solving the problem. Pashinyan stressed that Yerevan would "accept any of those options that Azerbaijan accepts."
"We have also publicly stated that there is nothing in Azerbaijan's proposals that is unacceptable to us," Pashinyan said in regard to the official response.
At the same time, he stated that Armenia, in its public and diplomatic responses, indicated that there is a Nagorno-Karabakh problem and the issue of the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be resolved in the context of a comprehensive Armenian-Azerbaijani peace settlement.
Pashinyan also said that the withdrawal of the defense army from the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which Azerbaijan insists on, would mean an exodus of all of the Armenians from there.
According to him, the tripartite statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan dated November 9, 2020 clearly indicates where the Armenian units should leave and where they should stay.
Still, despite the mounting difficulties in bilateral relations, the prime minister expressed optimism that his planned meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and European Council President Charles Michel on April 6 in Brussels will yield results.
"I once again express Armenia’s readiness to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan. Armenia is ready for the immediate start of peace negotiations," Pashinyan said.
Notably, Azerbaijan's president also expressed support for a quick peace agreement on Thursday.
Conflict Escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh
Tensions around Nagorno-Karabakh, which is an area populated by ethnic Armenians but officially recognized as part of Azerbaijan, have risen significantly in recent weeks, with the international community voicing alarm about the developments.
In Yerevan, there is widespread anxiety that the Azeris would take advantage of Russia's recent involvement in the military operation in Ukraine
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of taking two villages on the armistice line between Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Khramort and Parukh — which the Azerbaijanis refer to as Farukh.
The subsequent firefight, which allegedly used Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, reportedly left more than a dozen Armenians wounded and three killed, as well as an indeterminate number of Azerbaijani casualties, according to Armenian media reports. Baku disputed the allegations, claiming that its troops were only "continuing the process of clarifying their locations and positions without the use of force."
