Azerbaijan Denies Nagorno-Karabakh Despite Trilateral Statement, says Pashinyan to Euronews

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave an interview to Euronews TV, Armenian Government’s Press office reports.

Euronews - Nagorno Karabakh has been the stage of most violent episodes in the South Caucasus recent history. And tensions have not gone away since the 2020 peace deal. To what do you attribute the constant hostility?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan - First of all, the document signed on November 9, 2020 is not a peace treaty or peace deal as you said, in its legal sense. But not so much de jure as de facto, a number of its provisions are grossly violated. I agree with you that it can be and it is a certain concept of future peace architecture.

But unfortunately, many provisions are regularly violated by Azerbaijan. You see you mentioned Nagorno Karabakh in your question, and everyone understands that. But Azerbaijan continues to claim there is no Nagorno Karabakh, although the November 9 trilateral statement defines the existence of Nagorno Karabakh as an entity, and the President of Azerbaijan signed that statement. Moreover, he agreed that there is a line of contact in Nagorno Karabakh, and Nagorno Karabakh has a territory that is defined in paragraph 7 of the trilateral statement. Moreover, paragraph 7 of the statement provides that refugees and internally displaced persons shall return to the territory of Nagorno Karabakh and the adjacent districts under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Unfortunately, to date Azerbaijan has not secured this right. Moreover, they are carrying out constructions in a number of villages that the Armenian population was forced to flee from during the war, and Azerbaijan declares that it will resettle these territories with Azerbaijanis.

Let alone that until now, contrary to paragraph 8 of the trilateral statement, the prisoners of war, captives, hostages, and other detained persons have not been returned. Until recently, there were 33 prisoners, and recently two persons were abducted.

Now, turning to the Lachin Corridor, which is mentioned in the trilateral statement, to which you referred, and which is signed by the President of Azerbaijan, the purpose of which is to ensure a link between Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia, that corridor must be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. By the way, the Lachin Corridor is not just a road, I want to draw your attention, it's a 5-km wide space, which is currently illegally blocked by Azerbaijan.