In his remarks at the start of a weekly cabinet session the Armenian leader responded to statements by Aliyev made at an event in the Azeri-controlled Karabakh town of Shushi (Susa) that he visited on November 8, a day that Azerbaijan calls Victory Day to mark the end of a six-week war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
Speaking to an audience consisting of army officers, Aliyev again accused Armenia of failing to live up to its commitments under a Russia-brokered ceasefire deal that put an end to hostilities in which nearly 7,000 people were killed on both sides.
He, in particular, demanded that Armenia withdraw its forces from the Karabakh region where about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed under the terms of the 2020 ceasefire. The Azerbaijani leader also warned that Baku will take “the necessary steps” unless Yerevan fulfills its obligations.
Armenia denies any military presence in Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan views members of the ethnic Armenian defense army in the region as a force separate from its armed forces.
In his statements Aliyev also stressed that Russian peacekeepers were deployed in the Karabakh region on a temporary basis.
Under the 2020 ceasefire agreement, the Russian peacekeeping forces were deployed for five years, a term to be “automatically extended for subsequent five-year terms unless either party notifies about its intention to terminate this provision six months before the expiration of the current term.”
As Russia gets increasingly bogged down in the ongoing war in Ukraine that it unleashed in February, there is a growing feeling among Armenians that Moscow’s current peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh may be jeopardized in the time to come.
“Aliyev is not only threatening, but is already preparing the genocide of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinian claimed.
“Advancing the narrative about the withdrawal of peacekeepers without clear international guarantees for the security and rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians is not only a violation of the tripartite statements, but also a preparation for the genocide of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians,” he added.
Pashinian called into question Aliyev’s interpretation of the provision in the 2020 ceasefire agreement concerning peacekeepers. He, in particular, highlighted the circumstance of the automatic extension of the peacekeeping mission foreseen by the agreement.
“This essentially means that the peacekeepers are stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh indefinitely until the issues related to the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are addressed and all security concerns are resolved,” Pashinian said.
In his remarks Aliyev also demanded that Armenia fulfill another provision of the ceasefire agreement and provide Azerbaijan with a land corridor to its western Nakhichevan exclave that Baku wants to have the same extraterritorial status as the Lachin corridor, a five-kilometer-wide road that connects Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
Pashinian on Thursday stressed that Armenia “has only one obligation, and that is to ensure a transport link between the western districts of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan” and that “no specific route was mentioned in any statement.”
Armenia offered in August to open three checkpoints at its border with Azerbaijan for automobile traffic to and from Nakhichevan, stressing that the routes would operate under Armenian legislation. Baku rejected the offer, citing unsuitable terrain and climate conditions of the offered roads. It insisted instead on a route through the southern part of Armenia’s Syunik province where a railway operated in Soviet times.
Pashinian stressed that Yerevan was ready to open the checkpoints even today, which, he said, means that Armenia fulfills its obligations.
At the same time, he charged that by accusing Armenia of not fulfilling its obligations Aliyev is trying “to create fictitious grounds for closing the Lachin corridor, encircling the Artsakh [Karabakh] Armenians and committing genocide.”
“If Azerbaijan really wants peace and is ready for peace, let’s open those passport control points, let’s create an opportunity for people,” the Armenian premier said.
Pashinian also countered that Armenia does not have to build any new roads under the 2020 agreement, stressing that point 9 of the document speaks about “construction of new transport links by consent of the parties.”
“The Republic of Armenia is ready to give its consent, but there is no agreement for one reason, and that is: Azerbaijan continues its aggressive rhetoric and actions contrary to the agreements that have been reached and statements that have been signed.”
Speaking about the restoration of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, the agreement on which was reached on December 14, 2021 in Brussels, Pashinian said that it was the president of Azerbaijan who broke the agreement.
“A few days later, Aliyev himself refused to sign the document confirming the agreement. I officially state that I am ready to sign the document confirming this agreement even today,” the Armenian prime minister said.
The president of Azerbaijan did not immediately respond to the accusations made by the Armenian leader.